Harry Potter and Doing It All Over Again
by danieljgrant
Summary: Harry Potter's life has never been easy. Things happen to him that would drive other people crazy. Is it any surprise that he needs to save the world, AGAIN? Cannon acknowledged and accepted, but not. H/Hr.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: So, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Sort of. I want to thank everyone that read and enjoyed _**Vanilla**_. It was a blast to write. While it was my first story that I put on here, it was not however the first story I wrote in the Harry Potter sandbox. THIS is this first piece of fan fiction I ever wrote. Is it good? Meh. In my opinion, _**Vanilla**_ is leaps and bounds better. I cut my teeth on this story, learned how to write.

I was inspired to write this story after reading Time Again by broomstick flyer. It's a "been there, written a million times" storyline. I didn't realize that at the time I wrote it. I had only begun reading fan fiction at that point. Hence why I didn't post it until now. I've got the bug to write again. And while I write that one, I'm going to be editing this one and posting it, give you guys and gals that like my writing something to gnaw on for a little while.

Just remember: This is not as good as _**Vanilla**_, and its a tired storyline. So I ask for your forgiveness in advance. If you're still reading this, and bound and determined to plow through this, then by all means, enjoy... And if you don't enjoy it, don't say I didn't warn you.

**Harry Potter and Doing It All Over Again**

**Chapter 1**

Harry Potter tried opening his eyes, but they were being quite uncooperative. Squinting fiercely, trying to keep out the intruding early morning sunlight, Harry reached out for the edge of his covers. As he did so, he noticed it was much easier to move than the previous few nights. He made a mental note to say thank you to Professor Rimsky for the wonderful relaxing potion. After what had happened, he really needed something to help him put his mind at ease. As he grabbed the sheets, the memory of last nights dream crept into his consciousness. '_My, what a strange dream, so life like too._'

He absentmindedly pulled back his bed sheets. '_Wow, even my shoulder feels better than it has in years, that's quite some potion. I'll have to ask her make it more often for me.'_ He swung his legs out from under the covers and over the edge of the bed. He was quite surprised at the ease at which he had done so. It was almost as if... '_No, not possible... just the potion I'm sure.'_

He reached for his glasses and put them on. He looked down at the floor, and cocked his head in amusement. '_Did they change the carpet in my office without telling me? Perhaps they're trying to cheer me up, putting the old carpet in my office. I've have to thank them for trying. Certainly worthy of Gred and Forge.'_

He set his feet on the floor and began to stand up. He winced out of habit, expecting to feel the throbbing pain in both his knees, but it never came. As he stood up, he felt quite confused. He kept going up, and up, and up. He stood up straight for the first time in what seemed like forever. '_Ok, this is kind of weird. This potion has to have some nasty side effects if taken regularly. Every elderly witch and wizard should be taking heavy doses of it if it doesn't. It makes you feel so young, so good. Professor Rimsky would be rich if she sold this thing._'

Just then he heard a noise, which sounded an awful lot like a chainsaw. Harry's head instinctively snapped in the direction of the noise. He was startled by what he saw so much that he fell backwards onto his bed. He quickly looked around the room, and noticed that he was most certainly not alone in the room. '_What the bloody hell is going on here?_' Harry thought to himself as beads of sweat began forming on his forehead.

He saw that the bed he was sleeping in was not the only one in the room; it in fact was one of five. He looked to the bed immediately to his right, and a tuft of red hair was peeking out of the top of the covers. '_Ron?_' He looked around the room again, and saw three other lumps in the beds surrounding his. '_Neville, Dean, Seamus?_'

He once again stood up, and ran into the washroom. He turned on the sink, threw his glasses on the counter, and threw cold water on his face. He splashed himself several times before stopping and drying himself off. He put back on his glasses, and looked in the mirror. He stumbled back several feet, reeling in shock from seeing the face staring back at him.

His eyes were wide, looking at the young boy returning his stare. He put his hands up to his face, feeling the young skin on his cheeks with his now unwrinkled hands. '_No way... No, no… No way… That can't possibly have been real… This can't be real…. This must be a dream…_'

'_No Harry… this is quite real… all of it actually…_' Harry heard a faint voice in his head say, which sounded a lot like that of Albus Dumbledore. His dream last night now came slamming into the forefront of his thoughts. '_There's only one way to tell…_' Harry ran into his room, threw on some clothes and quickly exited his dorm room.

He ran down the Grand Staircase and into the Great Hall. His heart, pounding in his chest, leapt into his throat. He saw her sitting in her usual spot, eating alone, the woman he had known for more than 100 years. But now what? How was he supposed to do this? Not even in his 122 years had he learned the ways of the female gender. The great Harry Potter, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for over 60 years, The Boy Who Lived, slayer of the Dark Lord Voldemort, couldn't even think straight as he approached the woman whom he always considered his closest friend.

Nervously he sat down on Hermione Granger's left. She had, as always, her nose firmly planted into a book. The one she was currently reading was "**Non-Human Languages and How to Understand Them**." Harry chuckled to himself, '_That's my Hermione, always reading._' She had her brown, bushy hair pulled back in its usual loose ponytail, and her dark brown book bag laying open beside her.

Trying to act casual, Harry said, "Morning Professor," as he grabbed some toast and some porridge. It had been many, many years since Harry had sat down at the Gryffindor table, and was pleased to see all the familiar teachers sitting up at the head table.

Hermione blinked once, then twice. "Excuse me?" she retorted. She looked at him with a very confused expression, raising her right eyebrow, her chocolate brown eyes scanning him for some hint as to why he had called her "Professor."

Harry's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull the instant she spoke. He dropped the spoon he was using into the bowl of porridge, his jaw slacking. Why are habits so hard to break? Hermione, the old Hermione, Professor Weasley, always insisted to Harry that she be called Professor. Only in private or on informal occasions would he ever be allowed to call her by the name he had used since they first met. Now, it was that same Hermione persistence that was the cause of his predicament.

"Is that what you and Ron's new nickname for me is or something?" she said as she narrowed her eyes and shook her head at Harry. "Just because..."

"I'm sorry... it's just... sorry... ok? I didn't mean anything by it. It's just..."

"It's ok Harry," Hermione interrupted. "I'm sure there are worse things you two could have come up with," she finished, shaking her head in disbelief, a smile now adorning her face.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief at her response. He wouldn't have to lie his way out of this one. He always did have trouble lying to her.

"It's just... never mind. I was hoping to talk to you about something."

"What is it? Something about the egg? Well, I've been reading..."

"The egg?" Harry was thrown off guard at the mention of an egg. '_What egg?_' Harry thought back to his time at Hogwarts as a student. He had some amazing adventures in his time at Hogwarts. Harry wracked his brain for a reason that Hermione would possibly be asking about an egg for? '_Oh yeah, forth year, the second task. The Triwizard Tournament. __**The**__ egg. __**The**__ clue_,' Harry thought to himself. It had been so many years since he competed in the Triwizard Tournament that he nearly forgot what he had to actually **do** for the tasks.

"Oh... the egg... no... it's not about that. I've got that figured out already." Harry recollected back to the time in the prefects bathroom, receiving the help of a very flirty Moaning Myrtle.

"You what? When? Why didn't you tell me? What is it?" Hermione stuttered over her words, flabbergasted that Harry had figured out the screeching sound that had come from the egg just days before.

"I'll tell you later. What I want to talk about is more important to me than that. I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it Harry?" she said as she looked at him with a puzzled look on her face, trying to determine from his expression what he wanted.

"I was wondering... I mean... um... er..."

Harry was inwardly kicking himself. How could the most powerful wizard alive be reduced to a stammering, stuttering idiot in front of his best friend, someone he had always confided in? He never imagined that this moment would ever happen to him, but now faced with it, he'd much rather face Voldemort one hundred times in one hundred days than be doing this right now.

"Well, spit it out..." she said, anxious to hear what was causing the Boy-Who-Lived such a problem he couldn't speak properly.

"Wow... I'm just more nervous now than I've been in years..."

"Harry! How can you be more nervous asking me a silly question than you were fighting a dragon, which in case you've forgotten, was all of a couple weeks ago? I distinctly remember you being quite nervous then." Hermione couldn't believe that Harry was nervous to ask her something. He had always come to her for help, and she was always more the willing to do so.

Harry pondered this new/old piece of information. To him, it had been a long time since he used his Firebolt to out-maneuver the Hungarian Horntail. But to Hermione, this Hermione, it had only been a matter of weeks. But he also remembered that as nervous as he was waiting to face his dragon, he knew what was ahead of him then. Now, faced with the reason he was sent back, he was sure he was more nervous now than he was then. This, he wasn't sure how to handle.

"Yeah... I guess so... just feels like years I guess... but anyway... I wanted to know... if... if you... like me?" Harry asked as his hands and knees were shaking. Why was he shaking so badly? He asked a question he thought he knew the answer to, yet here he sat, the anticipation of her reply was enough to nearly shake him out of his own robes.

"Oh Harry, of course I like you." Hermione said in the matter-of-fact tone she always had. With her reply, she had done what she always did, answer without revealing her true feelings. Though as she said it, she wore a broad smile, which Harry had seen many times in his life.

Harry's heart fluttered as her words rolled off her tongue. This was what he wanted to hear. He knew what she meant, even though he was sure that she had believed herself to be quite neutral. Harry could barely contain his excitement, and was fighting his own body from engulfing Hermione's. He did allow himself however, to grin from ear to ear. After the past few nights, Harry was exploding with happiness inside him.

"That's wonderful to hear Hermione."

"But why is **that** more important than the Triwizard Tournament?" she said, suddenly transforming back into the Hermione he knew so well: a narrowing of the eyebrows, seriousness exuding in her voice, and the pursed lips that reminded him so much of Professor McGonagall.

"Because, you mean more to me than anyone else in the world. You're my best friend, I love you, and I think I'd like to be with you for the rest of my life, and eventually, marry you." Harry blurted out, a dumb grin on his face.

Hermione, for her part, was positively glowing and soaking in everything he had to say. An excitement she had never thought possible was welling up inside her as Harry's words washed over her. Up until she heard the word 'marry' that is. When she heard _that_ word, her smile disappeared, and a scowl quickly replaced it. Her eyes were filling up with hurt and anger, and she glared at her best friend.

"Harry James Potter, it's cruel to joke like that! How could you!" she yelled at him. She slammed her book closed, and hastily threw it in her bag. A wave of shock and horror washed over Harry as he watched her throw the rest of her books in her bag. Tears were forming in her eyes as she rapidly stood up.

Harry, reacting quickly, stood up with her. She threw her bag over her right shoulder, spun away from him and started to walk away. His seeker reflexes kicked in, grabbing her left elbow and spun her back around to face him. In one fell swoop, he planted his lips on hers.

At that moment, the world stopped. The Great Hall seemed to fade away, and there was a deafening silence. Only the feel of Hermione's lips on his existed in the universe. It may have been five hours, but more than likely it was about five seconds, as he felt her body relax, as she returned his kiss.

Harry had never felt this way before. No kiss he had ever had made him feel the way he felt right now. His heart was pounding, his knees were buckling, and the only thing that mattered at that moment was Hermione. Harry could feel the need to breath coming, but he didn't want something as trivial as breathing separate him from her lips. Only when his body forced him, involuntarily, to break apart from her, did he. He thought his body betrayed him, and cursed the human instinct for survival. As their lips separated, his eyes opened enough see that she was looking at him as well. He gazed into her eyes, never blinking. Finally, after a few moments of infinite bliss, did the Great Hall once again come back into his universe, which was blurry and hardly noticeable, as he looked into her teary eyes, but it existed nonetheless.

"I wasn't joking Hermione," Harry whispered, trying to force his voice box to work after the incredible sensation that had just occurred. He put his forehead against hers, his cheeks slowly turning red. Hermione on the other hand, had her scowl replaced once again by her wide smile and cheeks as red as Ron's hair.

"I... Harry... how..." she said as she looked at Harry's smiling face. Her knees were shaking, and her voice trembling. "How did you know?"

"Well... I... well... Hermione, would you like to be my girlfriend?" he said as he let go of her elbow, moving his hand down to hers, and gently held her hand in his.

"Oh Harry! Yes... yes! Of course... yes!" Hermione replied, quickly kissing his lips again

"Would you like to take a walk then?"

"I'd love to," she said as her free arm made its way around his neck, pulling him down into another passionate kiss.

As their kiss lingered, only now did their senses realize that there was an entire world surrounding them. They broke apart to whoops and hollers, winks and wolf-whistles. They looked around the Great Hall and blushed at the attention they were receiving. Harry looked at Hermione, tugged her hand towards him, and led her out into the hallway.

Once outside the Great Hall, away from the attention of everyone, Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed him once again. Harry had never felt this kind of passion before in his life. Never even with his former wife Ginny did he experience something this powerful.

As they continued to kiss each other outside the Great Hall, the sound of footsteps filled the hallway, followed by a loud gasp. Harry separated from Hermione's lips and looked around to see where the noise came from. He tore his eyes away from Hermione and saw the source: Cho Chang, Harry's ex-girlfriend. Well, sort of ex-girlfriend. He was guessing by her reaction that she did in fact like him at this point in her life. She hurried by the two of them and into the Great Hall, her cheeks her flushed and she glared at them as she walked by.

"I think Cho just had a heart attack," he whispered into Hermione's ear. She looked at Harry with a confused expression on her face.

"Why would she care if we're snogging in the hallway?"

"Jealous maybe? I don't know. Let's get going. Room of Requirement sound ok?"

"Room of what? I've never heard of such a thing. There's no reference to such a room in **Hogwarts: A History**!" How could Harry forget that they didn't find the Room of Requirement until his fifth year? That was the year Dolorus Umbridge was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and they needed a place to hold their meetings for Dumbledore's Army.

"Dobby told me about it. He calls it the come and go room. It's really quite fascinating. It's on the 7th floor. Let's go," he said as he smiled at her. He grabbed her hand and dragged her upstairs until they were in front of a large, blank wall.

"Harry, there's nothing here!" she said, looking at Harry like he'd grown a second head or claimed Voldemort was his father.

"Just think of a place, any place, that you want; a library, a sunny beach, anything. Walk past this spot three times, concentrating on exactly what you want." Hermione looked at him skeptically, but she did as he said.

She closed her eyes, and began pacing back and forth, concentrating on a place where they could talk privately and comfortably. After the third pass, she heard something coming from the wall. She opened her eyes, and her mouth fell ajar at what she saw. A large door had appeared where once there was only a wall.

"Oh my Harry!" she exclaimed as she opened the door. Harry chuckled at what he saw when he entered. It was no surprise that she would choose a cross between the library and the Gryffindor common room, complete with a comfy-looking couch and a roaring fireplace. Bookshelves lined the walls, a large coffee table was setting in front of the couch, and the room was decorated in Gryffindor red and gold.

"Brilliant Hermione."

"Thank you Harry. Now, what did you want to talk about? And how did you know about my feelings for you?" Hermione asked as she tossed her bag onto the floor next to the table. She walked over to the couch and sat on the right side, curling her legs beneath her, leaning against the arm. She looked up at him with an expectant look on her face. Her big brown eyes were looking directly at his, her gaze taking his breath away. He gave her a goofy grin, and she smiled radiantly back at him.

Harry paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, wringing his hands every few seconds and cracking his knuckles out of pure nervousness. His heart was racing and he was sweating profusely. Harry took a few deep breaths, trying to compose himself. He tried his best to come up with some sort of explanation for his actions in the Great Hall. How could he tell her without outright telling her everything? He was still somewhat confused about everything himself. Finally, he came up with an explanation that wasn't too far removed from the truth. He took one final deep breath, and began.

"First, what I'm about to say is going to be a lot to take in, and I know that you're going to have questions," he said as he paced back and forth, looking like he was talking to the carpet with his head down the entire time. "Knowing you like I do, probably a lot of them. So please, don't interrupt me. If I don't answer them in due course, I'll try my best to answer them afterward. Ok?" he finally looked up at her after he stopped pacing. Hermione simply nodded, her expression full of curiosity and confusion. He resumed his nervous pacing, and once again addressed the floor.

"Well, I had this kind of, dream. No. It was more than that... a vision... yeah..." he said as his hands were also talking loudly, gesturing a lot more than he realized. "It was way too real to be a dream. And in it, I just... knew. It was like someone took me aside, outside this world, and showed me... well... everything. They showed me how you really felt, and I already knew how I felt about you. It's always been there Hermione, my feelings for you. I just needed something to smack me in the head."

He swallowed hard, for he knew the next part was going to take a leap of faith on her part. For this though, he wanted to look her straight in the eye. He wanted to see how her eyes reacted to what he was about to say.

"And there's more... more than that..." He walked towards her, and sat on his knees, right in front of her so that he could look up at her, and properly gauge her reaction. "It seems we're... soul mates. Real soul mates." He held his breath, reaching out his hand and placing it on hers, which was sitting in her lap, awaiting her response.

Hermione, hanging on every word Harry was saying, had a look of shock and surprise when he mentioned the part about soul mates. She looked at him, raising her eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she decided that is was all right speak.

"How do you know Harry, about us being soul mates? I mean, it'd be wonderful, because it might explain why I went so weak in the knees when you kissed me, but still. soulmates?" She looked at him with curiosity in her eyes while biting her lower lip, not the anger or indifference he half expected. Then, as if on cue, Harry smiled and chuckled; thankful he was in the Room of Requirement. He saw it appear out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head to look at it, breaking the eye-to-eye contract he had been sharing with Hermione.

Unsure of what Harry was smiling about, she followed his gaze, and discovered there was a book now sitting right next to her. A bookmark was hanging out of the top of it, begging her to turn to that page. She picked it up, placing it in her lap, and obliged the feeling inside her to open it to where it was marked. Harry got up off his knees and sat next to her where the book had appeared. She shifted on the couch, laying her legs across Harry's lap, propping the book up on stomach as she laid her head against the arm of the couch. After a couple of minutes, a smile appeared on Hermione's face.

"Harry! It's all about soul mates! It says that when soul mates first kiss, they become soul bonded! And a book at the Ministry of Magic records couples that are soul bonded. Oh Harry, do think it's true?" she said, laying the book down on her chest, the large grin on her face growing exponentially, looking at him like this new information would make her whole world explode with happiness.

"I think so 'Mione, but there's more I've got to tell you..." Harry paused. '_How much do I tell her?_ _And how do I not sound crazy when I tell her? Maybe I'll break it up into bits. Maybe if she sees that I'm not crazy about the soulmate thing, then she'll believe everything else,_' Harry thought to himself. Deciding that was the best course of action, he thought of only one way to confirm the entire soulmate thing. "Maybe we should see Dumbledore first, maybe we can see if it's true about us? Maybe it'll confirm my vision?"

Her eyes widened, "That's a great idea! Let's go see him now!" Hermione swung her legs off his lap and sat up, put the book in her book bag and threw it over her right shoulder, grabbed Harry by the hand, dragged him out of the Room of Requirement and headed to the Headmaster's office. As they reached the stone gargoyles, Harry waved his hand at the gargoyles, and muttered something that sounded like 'Chocolate Frog', and the couple was permitted to enter the Headmaster's office. They ran up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Enter," came a voice from behind the door. As Harry and Hermione walked into Dumbledore's office, they let each other's hand go. Harry felt the warmth of her hand leave, and even after just that split second, he longed to hold it again. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" the Headmaster said, addressing the two teenagers now standing before him.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but instead, heard Hermione's voice speaking. "Professor, do you know anything about soul mates? And if so, is there anyway to find out if a couple are soul mates?" she asked as if her voice were sitting on the edge its seat.

Dumbledore walked out from behind his desk, and looked at Hermione, raising an eyebrow at her.

"If I may, Ms. Granger, respond to your questions with one of my own," he said as he leaned back against the front of his desk, folding his arms across his chest. "Why are you and Mr. Potter standing in my office asking me about soul mates?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then back to the Headmaster, and this time, it was Harry's turn to speak.

"Well Alb... Professor, I, kind of had vision last night. It was so... life like. I saw… a couple… who are friends of ours… kissing, and there was this light around them. The only thing that came to mind was the idea of soul mates. So... is there anyway to tell if a couple are soul mates?"

"Well," Dumbledore began, "the Ministry has a way of recording soul bonds. Whenever there is a soul bond, it is recorded in a book at the Department of Mysteries. If you'd like, I could make a quick request for you. The Minister does call on me quite a bit, I'm sure he'd oblige me. As they say, a street goes both ways, correct?" He walked across the room to his fireplace, pinched a dash of Floo Powder from a bag on the mantle, and threw it into the fire. In a loud, booming voice, he called out "The Minister's Office!"

Turning to the two teenagers behind him, he asked, "Do I need to ask of whom this couple is, or can I safely assume that they are standing before me?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and blushed. "That is all I needed to know," Dumbledore said as he smiled at them. "This may take awhile, might I suggest you take a seat?" He gestured towards a couple of chairs in the middle of his office, and stepped into the fire, disappearing from sight.

The "couple" walked over to the pair of chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk and sat down. They sat in silence, with every few moments glancing at each other, each time blushing just a little bit more. Harry's foot was next to Hermione's, and he decided to tap hers. She looked at him, raised an eyebrow at him, wondering why he did that. She gave him half a smile, and tapped his foot with hers. They grinned at each other, and soon began an intense game of footsie, both heavily concentrating on their respective feet.

Harry felt it was both wonderful and strange at the same time to be flirting with Hermione. He thought back to his previous life, and wondered why he didn't see it before. She had always been there for him, no matter what. She was his rock, and he was hers. They had always been there for each other in the best of times, and in the darkest. Now, here he sat, engaged in a teenage flirting game, and enjoying every single second of it.

In the middle of their little game, Harry reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand. They intertwined fingers, and let their hands fall in between the two chairs. Hermione felt a surge go through her body, a wave of emotions she'd never felt before. She looked at Harry, who was still concentrating heavily on their game, and sighed. She knew she always liked Harry, perhaps even loved him. She reminisced about their first kiss and how incredible it felt, and she couldn't imagine herself with anyone other than Harry. What surprised her was that thought made her feel more joy than anything before. She knew now that she was, unequivocally, in love with Harry Potter.

After a quarter of an hour, Dumbledore returned. Harry and Hermione stopped paying attention to each other and focused on the returning Headmaster. He wore a puzzled look his face. He walked in front of his desk and once again leaned up against it. He unrolled a piece of parchment, and began to read from it.

"At 10:13 this morning, a soul bonding took place in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, between Harry James Potter and Hermione Jean Granger, officially making them Mr. and Mrs. Harry James Potter."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Previously on... **HP and Doing It All Again**..._

_"At 10:13 this morning, a soul bonding took place in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, between Harry James Potter and Hermione Jean Granger, officially making them Mr. and Mrs. Harry James Potter."_

The three of them looked around at each other with the same surprised reaction. However, Harry was the only one trying to act surprised. He knew. At least, he thought he knew. He was only told about it last night. Now, here he was, apparently married to Hermione. To her credit, she stayed remarkably calm through all this. Dumbledore was primarily looking at Harry, seeing if he could gather more information than Harry was letting on.

Harry noticed Dumbledore's gaze and guessed, correctly, that Dumbledore was using some form of Legilimency. '_Of course,' _Harry thought to himself,_ 'how else would he know so much that was going on in this school? Now it makes sense, how else would he have known to bring up Voldemort when I was talking about Ginny in the Chamber of Secrets? Albus, you sly devil…_'

To Dumbledore's surprise, he could not derive any more information out of Harry. Either he was losing his touch, or the young wizard sitting in front of him had become a master at Occlumency overnight. Neither option seemed likely, but neither seemed to make sense. After a few tense moments, he broke the silence.

"Well, Mr. Potter and Miss Gra… I mean Mrs. Potter, I'm undoubtedly sure you have some questions regarding this matter." Hermione's eyes lit up at the sound of 'Mrs. Potter'. Both Harry and Hermione were now sitting on the edge of their respective chairs.

"But before that, you should know that not many witches and wizards have soul mates. At least, not many are recorded in the book at the Department of Mysteries. The soul bond is one that is not well known. Speculation runs rampant on just how deep the bond truly goes. There have been reports that those who are soul bonded can feel each others emotions, among other things. So, please, be forewarned, from this day forward, your lives will change. As of now, as far as the wizarding community goes, you two are officially married. You are: Husband and Wife. Now, I do believe a congratulation is in order," and as he said that, Dumbledore flicked his wand, and three goblets of pumpkin juice appeared on a tray between the three of them. All three picked up a goblet.

Dumbledore raised his, and the two "newlyweds" followed suit. "A toast, to Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, many happy returns and long lives lived! Here here!" he said as the three clanked together their glasses and drank down their juice.

"Now," Dumbledore said with another flick of his wand, and the goblets disappeared, "I believe you may have some questions for me?"

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, then back to the Headmaster, and Hermione was the first to speak. "Well, do you have any questions for the Professor, Harry?" she said as she tilted her head and gazed at Harry.

"Well Hermione," Harry said, returning Hermione's gaze, then turning back to Dumbledore. "I think we need some time to let this entire thing sink in. If you don't mind Professor, perhaps we can come back later and revisit this subject, if we do have any questions?"

"That sounds like an agreeable arrangement to me. Now, I'm sure your friends would love to hear of the news. If I'm not mistaken, the rumor mill is working overtime as we speak. Best to squash the rumors as soon as possible. If there is nothing more, you are excused," Dumbledore said to the young couple.

The two smiled at each other, nodded at their Professor, got up from their chairs, turned around and walked out of his office. As they walked out of Dumbledore's office, their hands immediately found the others and they intertwined their fingers. They walked in step, slowly descending the marble staircase, both beaming from the news of their new connection with each other. They reached the bottom of the stairs, Hermione let go of Harry's hand, and quickly leaped onto his back, throwing her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, making it quite clear she was wanting a piggyback ride.

Harry instinctively caught her legs, and quickly adjusted her so that his elbows were underneath her knees. She was wrapped tightly around him, and Harry began walking once more, a large smile on his face. Halfway down the hall, she began placing small kisses on his neck, which had a strange affect on him; he began laughing and trying to snake away from her feathery light kisses.

She laughed at him for trying to wiggle away from her, and purred in his ear. Harry felt a shiver go done his spine, and turned his head to look at Hermione. "So, what was _that_ for?"

Hermione sighed happily, and looked into the emerald-green eyes of the stallion that was carrying her down the hallway. "My most wonderful dream just came true," she said as she smiled, buried her face in his neck and purred once more.

After a little while, Hermione slid off Harry's back, and the happy couple walked arm-in-arm back to the Gryffindor common room in silence, stopping occasionally to kiss for various amounts of time. Finally, they reached the Fat Lady, said the password, and entered through the portal. Hermione said "I'll be right back," kissed Harry on the cheek, and ran to her room. Harry watched his wonderful girl run up the stairs, the scent of her vanilla shampoo still fresh in his nostrils. He walked over to the fireplace and saw Ginny and Neville playing a game of wizard's chess, neither of them seemed to notice him watching their game. Just then, Ron came stumbling down from the boy's dormitory, still half asleep, and saw Harry standing there.

"Hey Harry, wanna grab some lunch? I'm starving! I'll go grab my coat," and before Harry could respond, Ron had run back up the stairs.

A few moments later, Hermione had come back to the common room, bundled up like she was ready to take a walk around the grounds on the cold, wintry afternoon. She had on her heavy black coat, which came down to her ankles, and her Gryffindor-colored scarf wrapped around her neck. She was smiling radiantly at Harry while she came down the stairs. Harry thought she looked absolutely wonderful. She walked over to him, staring directly into his eyes, and without thinking, snaked her arms around Harry's neck and kissed him.

Harry wrapped his arms around her and kissed her eagerly back. A room full of flabbergasted students were soon staring at the kissing couple. Neville, Ginny and Ron, along with everyone else in the Common Room, were all gawking at them, and the three had severely different reactions.

Neville was just plain surprised. Ron looked like he took a bludger to the stomach. But Ginny wore the worst expression of the three. She had the look of a girl who had just had her heart broken. She jumped up, ran past them and up to her room with tears welling in her eyes. The couple was interrupted by a stuttering voice.

"How… how could you do this to me? Hermione… I thought… but… you… me… I…" Ron struggled to form a coherent thought as Harry and Hermione broke a part. They both turned to face Ron, and Hermione looked surprised.

"Do what to you Ron? Did... did you think I fancied you? I'm sorry Ron, but I've fancied Harry from the moment I laid eyes on him."

"But... you... and me..." Ron stammered, pointing to Hermione, then to Harry, his hand shaking in anger. "...Harry... and Ginny... How could you both do this to us? You... you betrayed us!"

Hermione had always been frustrated by Ron, but she felt like there was a long built-up anger within her which she didn't know existed, but now came spewing forth. "What? Betray you? Whose comment in our first year made me cry and hide in the girls bathroom? Yours. Whose idea was it to save me from that troll? Harry's. Who always argues with me even on the most trivial things? You. Who listens to me and takes me seriously? Harry. Why would I want to fall in love with a person who's always upsetting me and putting me down?" Hermione was now crying, clinging to and being comforted by Harry. Her right hand had grabbed a fistful of his shirt, her left arm was wrapped tightly around his waist, and her head now buried in his chest.

"Hermione, I just… I mean… look… its a little bit of a shock to come down here and see the girl I think fancies me and I happen to fancy too snogging my best mate!" Ron snapped back.

"Best mate? _Best mate_? Since when does a best mate turn their back on the other?" Harry growled at Ron. Memories of his previous life came flooding to the forefront. The first time around, yes, Harry and Ron patched things up in forth year. Even after Ron deserted Harry and Hermione when they were searching for Horcruxes, Harry forgave Ron. But it was everything after school that was the main source of Harry's anger.

When Harry and Ron were aurors together, searching for the last of the Death Eaters, Ron got fed up at a long stakeout and left Harry. As a result, Harry was forced to apprehend three Death Eaters by himself, nearly dying in the process. It took Ginny and Hermione weeks to forgive Ron. Harry on the other hand, forgave him rather quickly, as he came to expect that behavior from Ron, but Harry never forgot.

When Ron married Hermione, instead of becoming closer and fighting less, they slowly started to argue more. Ron had, on several occasions, blown up so badly that he left Hermione, only to beg and plead with her to let him come back, which she always did. But one day, Hermione confided in Harry and Ginny, that when Hugo, her youngest child, graduated from Hogwarts, she would divorce Ron. And when that day came, she stayed true to her word. Ron's temper knew no bounds that day, yelling and screaming at Hermione once more, only this time it was in front of Harry. Harry and Ron had a row to end all rows, with Ron insulting Hermione, Harry fiercely defending her. On that day, Ron lost both his best friends, and Harry never forgave Ron after that.

Now, here Harry stood, his right arm around Hermione's shoulders, pulling her tightly into him, his left hand covering hers, defending her once again from Ron. Rage was once again flowing through his veins, just like that day from before, and now it was Harry's turn now to let out some anger. But unlike this young Hermione, Harry had years of pent up emotion to let out.

"Does a day ever go by that you _**don't**_ think about yourself Ron? When you _**don'**__t_ argue with Hermione? When you're _**not**_ jealous of me? Do you even realize how I feel about your family? They _**are**_ my family. You're my brother! Do you know how much it hurts me when you and Hermione argue? Do you know how much it hurts me when you get jealous of the attention I get. Get it through your thick skull Ron! I **HATE** the attention! I wish you could walk in my shoes for a couple years. Maybe then you would see what it feels like to go everywhere and have people gawk at you just because you have a scar on your forehead. To see how it feels to hear the whispers and snickers everywhere you turn. And then, the one guy who I thought was my best mate turns his back on me when I needed him to believe me. Why Ron? _**Why**_?"

"I... uh... I... I'm sorry ok. I thought we got over this already?" Ron huffed, his anger momentarily subsiding. But as quickly as it had left, the raging Ron returned. "And besides, didn't you see the look on my sisters face? How insensitive can you be?" Ron's voice was getting as loud as Harry had been. "You two should know better than anyone that Ginny is madly in love with you Harry. And you Hermione, you're her best girl friend, how could you snog Harry in front of her like that? And what about me? But at least I won't be crying my eyes out like Ginny is!"

When Ron said that, it finally dawned on Hermione what that red flash had been when she opened her eyes after kissing Harry. "Oh Ginny..." she muttered as she proceeded to push past Ron and make her way to Ginny's room.

With Hermione's departure, the tension in the air thickened 100 fold. Harry and Ron were now glaring at each other, their eyes never leaving the others. "Wow Harry, you and Hermione, huh? Come on, you knew I liked her!"

"Yes Ron, but I _**love**_ her."

"But, you knew, and I never got a chance!"

"Oh Ron," Harry said, shaking his head, "if only you only knew the chance you had."

"What chance? **WHAT CHANCE**?" Ron yelled and went for his wand. But before Harry could react, another voice came into the conversation.

"Ron you git! Don't you ever listen to Hermione? Maybe for once you should actually listen, she's the smartest witch in the school! Maybe you'll realize that most of the time you're wrong!" boomed the voice of one Neville Longbottom.

Harry looked around, and apparently, the private conversation that he thought that they were having, had became, well, not so private. There seemed to be a mass of fellow Gryffindors forming a semi-circle around them, most of them nodding, seemingly in agreement with what Neville had said. Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnett, Dennis and Colin Creevey, and several others had formed the circle. Harry heard mutterings from the crowd, sounding a lot like "Yea", "You tell 'um Neville" and "The git." Harry stood in stunned silence. He remembered back to his previous time at Hogwarts, when he had always let Ron and Hermione have their rows. '_Perhaps_,' he thought, '_I was wrong to let them go at each other._'

Ron, seeing he was outnumbered, pushed past the crowd, steam still coming out of his ears, but with his figurative tail between his legs. The crowd quickly dispersed after Ron left. Neville however, came up to Harry.

"I'm sorry about that Harry, but to be honest, I've been wanting to say that for a while. I've always liked Hermione too to be honest, but it seems right that you and her are together. I saw how you two were, and it just looked right. Congrats mate."

Harry looked at Neville square in the eye, and smiled at his fellow Gryffindor. "Thanks Neville, that means a lot to me. And before you ask, yes, I _do_ love her, more than I can ever describe."

Harry went and sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace. "Hey Neville, I don't think Ginny is going to come out any time soon, and I get the feeling Hermione isn't going to either, wanna continue where you guys left off?" Harry said as he pointed to the chessboard.

* * *

Hermione ran into the girl's dormitory. She had only one thought on her mind: Ginny. She knew that Ginny had always fancied Harry. She couldn't imagine the torment that was going on inside her friend's heart and mind. Kissing Harry in front of Ginny was probably the worst thing she could have done, at least without warning Ginny before hand. '_I might as well have taken a hammer and smashed her heart myself,_' Hermione thought to herself as she stopped in front of Ginny's room and knocked on her door.

No answer.

She knocked again.

No answer.

"Ginny! I know you're in there!"

She knocked once more.

"Go away!" a voice from behind the door yelled.

"Can't I come in? I want to explain!"

"Go away!"

"Ginny... please?" Hermione pleaded. "You're the closest thing I have to a sister! Please let me in!"

"Go away!"

Hermione, huffing in frustration, decided to try a different approach. "Ginevra Molly Weasley! Open this door right now or I'll open it myself!" she yelled.

After a long pause, Hermione heard the distinct sound of the door unlocking. Gently, she opened the door and walked in. The room was dark with the shades pulled over the windows, but she could make out a lump lying in one of the beds. She walked over and sat down next to Ginny, who had her face buried in her pillows, crying her eyes out.

"What do you want? Come to rub it in?"

"No Ginny, far from it. I'm sorry. We were about to tell everyone. I just... well... I saw Harry standing there... and he looked so adorable..." Hermione said, getting a far away look in her eye, remembering the moment she was talking about. _'He did look adorable, just standing there waiting for me with that silly little grin on his face,_' Hermione thought.

"Not helping..." Ginny said, snapping Hermione out her dream-like state.

"Sorry. It's just... it's not like we've been hiding it from everyone. It just happened this morning. Literally. At breakfast."

"Then where have you been? In a broom closet snogging? It's almost two!"

"Well, that's a bit of long story. But, I feel, of anyone, you should know..." Hermione said with a gentle tone.

Hermione proceeded to tell Ginny everything that had happened, to the best of her fuzzy recollection. She didn't hold anything back, including her long-held feelings for Harry. Surprisingly, Ginny kept her composure, even sitting up midway through the story, her resentment for Hermione slowly subsiding. By the end, she was even able to crack a smile, and her red, puffy eyes widened when Hermione told her what happened in Dumbledore's office.

"...But please Ginny, don't tell anyone else. I don't know if I'm ready for everyone to know I'm Mrs. Harry Potter. I'm still getting used to the idea of being with him. I'm afraid that I'll wake up and all this will be a dream."

Ginny sighed, resigning herself to the fact that her dream of marrying the Boy-Who-Lived was gone. "Well, I suppose if I can't have Harry, he should be with the best witch possible, and I know of only one person that would fit that description. Just give me some time Hermione. And don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Ginny hugged her best friend as tightly as she could, trying her best to convey a sense of 'no hard feelings'.

"Ok Ginny, I'll let you be for now. I'm going to go find Harry. Remember, you're still my best friend, my sister." Hermione got up form Ginny's bed and quietly walked out of the room. She descended the stairs and made her way back down to the common where she found Harry sitting on the couch playing chess with Neville.

Harry was hunched over, elbows propped up on his knees, his hands holding his head up. His eyebrows were narrowed as he was concentrating very hard on his next move. Neville was sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring blankly at the chessboard in front of him, sitting opposite of Harry.

She walked over to the two boys, and neither seemed to notice her. Harry made his move, and glanced in her direction after he noticed someone in his peripheral vision. He looked up to see who was standing there, and his face lit up when his eyes made their way up to her face. Hermione couldn't help but smile brightly back at him, her eyes lingering on his, which seemed to sparkle every time he looked at her. '_I could definitely get used to that look,_' she thought to herself. Seeing him react like that felt amazing to her.

She plopped down on the couch to the left of Harry. She leaned back into the cushions, wanting to be more comfortable than sitting up with Harry. He watched her sit down, the smile never leaving his face. He turned his attention back to his game, and she snaked her right arm around his waist. He in turn brought his left hand down from his face and intertwined his fingers with hers. She sighed with delight, thinking about this most wondrous of days.

After a few minutes, she sat up and placed her chin on his shoulder, looking over and studying the current game between the two boys. It was quite apparent that Harry was losing. He never had a knack for the game. She turned her head so that her lips were right next to his ear, and whispered softly, "Want to go for walk after your done losing?" She felt a shiver go through him, and a small smile crept on her lips. He nodded, his eyes never leaving the chessboard. She kissed his cheek, and sank back into the cushions.

Harry decided to put himself out of his own misery, and began losing on purpose. It wasn't very difficult for him to lose this particular game, seeing as it was an uphill climb to try and win anyway. '_Better time is spent with Hermione than losing at chess,_' he chuckled to himself. Mercifully, Neville ended the slaughter only a couple moves later. Harry shook his head in mock disgust, and turned to Hermione. "Ready to go?" She smiled and nodded at him, and the couple got off the couch and walked hand-in-hand out of the common room.

* * *

Harry laid in bed that night, thinking of the days events that had transpired. It seemed like a blur. A wonderful blur, but a blur nonetheless. Just last night, he was the Headmaster, and he had been sleeping in the Headmaster's office. Tonight, he's 14-years-old again, sleeping in the same room as Dean, Seamus, Neville and Ron, and he had a soul mate, and wife now, in his best friend Hermione. It felt so surreal. But now what? More questions flooded his mind.

'_Is this it? Did I do it? Did I prevent the "major catastrophe"? And what about everything else? I was told that I can "do things better", but what does that mean? I know about Voldemort and the Horcruxes. And the Deathly Hollows. And... The Triwizard Tournament... Cedric... am I allowed to save him? What about Mad-Eye and Crouch? Oh Albus, what do I do?_'

Harry finally drifted of to sleep, pondering thoughts that no person has ever had to face.

* * *

Hermione looked over at her clock, noticing that it wasn't even 2AM yet. She cursed at herself for not being able to sleep. The logical, studious side of her demanded sleep so that she would be more alert for her classes the next day. But another part refused to succumb to the routine nighttime activity. She was afraid. Afraid that this day was a dream. She didn't want to wake up and find out she could not hold Harry's hand, to kiss his lips, to snuggle with him, to flirt with him openly, to be his girl. '_Oh Merlin, please let this not be a dream. I want to wake up tomorrow and still be Mrs. Harry Potter. I don't know what I'd do if I were only his friend again, and not his soul mate._'

Her eyes slowly became too heavy to keep open. Her mind slipped away, and soon she was dreaming her favorite dream: The blissful union of Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

For the next couple weeks, Harry and Hermione were nearly inseparable. Harry, this time around, was not stressing over the Triwizard Tournament, nor did he stress over the announcement of the Yule Ball. In fact, his reaction was quite the opposite of most of the boys. He was rather looking forward to it, remembering how absolutely beautiful Hermione was the last time. Now, she wouldn't be attending with fellow Triwizard competitor Viktor Krum; she would instead be on his arm. It was this moment that Harry was daydreaming of at the end of Transfiguration, the day after Professor McGonagall announced the Yule Ball. After dismissing the class, the professor asked him to stay for a few moments after class.

Professor McGonagall was writing something on a piece of parchment as Harry approached. Her eyes briefly looked up to make sure it was Harry standing at her desk before returning her focus to her writing. "Mr. Potter," she began as the scratching of her quill echoed in the classroom. "As you are aware, the Yule Ball is in a couple weeks. As a Triwizard Champion, you will be required to have a partner, and, in the tradition of the Yule Ball, you and the other champions will have the first dance. Will this be a problem?"

"No Professor, in fact I plan on having the most beautiful girl in the world with me," Harry said with pride, thinking of Hermione. His chest involuntarily swelled and puffed out.

"Then I suggest you _actually_ ask her to the Ball, rather than assuming she will go with you, Mr. Potter. If there is nothing further, you are excused."

"Don't worry Professor, she'll be on my arm, and no one else's."

Harry turned and walked out of the classroom, where one particular lady was waiting for him in the hallway and was eavesdropping on his conversation. She was looking at him warmly, and reached out her hand and grabbed his. Harry, returning her smile, addressed the bushy-haired young lady.

"Since I haven't properly asked you: Hermione, with you go to the Ball with me?"

"Oh Harry, I may need some time to think about this, it's a rather hard decision..." she said, placing the back of her left hand on her forehead, trying to be dramatic and serious, but was having a hard time hiding her grin. "So many boys have asked me, but..." she paused for dramatic effect. "Only one has my heart...so... yes..." She stopped walking, and stood in front of him, now having both of her hands in his. "...I suppose I can go with you to the Ball, but only if you truthfully answer my next question."

"Anything 'Mione. I have no secrets to hide from you," he said, adding '_Unless you count the lifetime of memories I have of you,_' in his head.

"Do you _really_ think I'm the most beautiful girl in the world?" she smiled sweetly at him.

Harry chuckled at her question. "Ok, now you're just fishing for compliments. I believe you heard what I said to Professor McGonagall. So yes, I honestly, truthfully, absolutely believe you're the most beautiful girl in the world."

"Really? Then I suggest you get a new pair of glasses, because _obviously_ they're not working properly."

Harry looked down at his soul mate, and shook his head in disbelief. "Did you, Hermione Granger..."

"Hermione _Potter_..." she corrected him.

"Forgive me. Did you, Miss Hermione _Potter_, just make a joke?" he asked, with a huge grin on his face.

"What? I can't be bookworm _and_ have a sense of humor?" she chuckled as she gave him a peck on the cheek, and they again headed down the hallway, walking side-by-side, hand-in-hand.

They enjoyed walking down to the dungeons together for their Potions class. Harry felt as happy as he ever had in his former life. He didn't think about it too much however, he had been too focused on the here and now: Hermione, the Yule Ball, and his schoolwork. He had forgotten just how much work it took to be a student at Hogwarts.

Thankfully, this time around anyway, he knew most everything about the subjects he was once again studying. He even looked forward to Potions. It had been over 100 years since he saw Professor Snape murdered by Lord Voldemort. Over 100 years since he learned the truth. Over 100 years since learning that he really was one of the good guys. He risked his life every time he went to Voldemort's side. Now, here Harry was, once again, finding himself in the cross hairs of the snide comments of one Severus Snape, and in some weird way, he was enjoying it.

Perhaps part of Harry's joy stemmed from his actions after the war. After finding out the true feelings of Severus Snape, he dedicated himself to learning all of Snape's tricks. He used the old potions book of the "Half-Blood Prince", committing most of it to memory. Over the years, he had even publicly released some of Snape's more ingenious changes to potions that were thought to be unimprovable, and giving him full credit.

Harry decided that a huge leap in his academic abilities would raise suspicions as to exactly why he had improved so greatly overnight. So he decided to take it slowly, and using the cover of being Hermione's boyfriend, would allow himself to improve up to her level.

One class he dreaded however, was Divination. Never in his life did he ever see the point of trying too hard at it. Throw on top of that a brooding partner in Ron Weasley, and Divination quickly replaced Potions has his least favorite subject. He and Ron rarely spoke during class, only when forced to by Professor Trelawney.

Soon enough, it was time for the Yule Ball. Harry stood waiting for the Ball to begin with Hermione on his left arm. He was quite sure she looked even better than she had the last time. She wore the exact same periwinkle blue dress, had her hair as sleek and shiny, and in the same knot. Last time, she seemed more nervous than anything. But as she stood there on Harry's arm, she simply glowed. He could feel the change in her. He could feel the pride radiating off her. She felt proud to look beautiful for her Harry at the Ball. And much like last time, everyone stared at the elegant Hermione.

As they walked towards the dance floor, a panicked look came over Hermione. "Harry," she whispered, "do you know how to dance?"

"Yes love, a little."

"Well, that's better than nothing. Should I expect to have my feet stepped on all night?"

"You'll see," he grinned at her as they took their positions on the dance floor.

Hermione had taken ballroom dancing lessons before she came to Hogwarts, so she was fully expecting to have a pair of sore feet at the end of the night. But she was determined to have a good time with Harry nonetheless.

She was surprised however when Harry, who just two seconds ago claimed to know how to dance "a little", took her in his arms, and held her in the most perfect waltz position she'd ever been in. And when the music started, they began to dance together. It was if they were floating across the dance floor. All the eyes in the Great Hall became transfixed on the couple. Even the three other dancing couples made room for them, barely dancing themselves, watching the graceful dancing tandem. They stepped, spun, dipped and twirled as one. No one wanted to interrupt them, too amazed at what they were watching. Harry and Hermione, when the final note was held, finished their dance with a dip, and shared a tender kiss. As they looked up at the end of the song, they were engulfed in a roar of applause from everyone in the Great Hall. Harry glanced over at Professor McGonagall, and she gave him a small smile and a nod. They acknowledged the applause, both blushing profusely, and walked off the dance floor arm-in-arm.

"Harry James Potter! Where did you learn to dance like that! That was incredible! It's like we'd danced like that before. Mister 'I can dance a little'..." Hermione said as she playfully thwacked him on the shoulder.

"Well, I had a little practice before this, but trust me, that was all your doing out there. They were all staring because of how beautiful you look. Want to grab some punch?"

"Sure... but you're avoiding my question. Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"I told you, I had a little practice beforehand."

Harry was massively understating that fact. He smirked at how right Hermione was when she mentioned dancing with him before. He couldn't remember how many times he had danced with her in his past life. He knew how she moved so well that he could dance with her in his sleep. Of course, it was Professor Weasley's idea to hold a Winter Ball every two years after she became the Transfiguration teacher. And every Ball, Professor Weasley and Headmaster Potter would dance the night away, the envy of the other professors and all the students.

As the night progressed, Harry danced with Hermione and was thoroughly enjoying the Yule Ball this time around. And like last time, Neville asked Ginny to go with him. They appeared to be quite happy talking and dancing with each other. It had seemed Ginny was finally getting over Harry and was moving on. To test that theory, Harry asked Ginny to dance with him. She agreed to, but with much less enthusiasm than she would have before. Harry had not had an opportunity to speak with Ginny after that night in the common room, though he knew Hermione had significantly mended those fences. So this dance was an opportunity to speak to her in semi-privacy.

"How's your night going Gin?"

"Good."

"Enjoying your time with Neville?"

"Yes actually. I've never really talked with him about _him_. I used to just babble on about... well... you... actually..."

"That's understandable Gin... you did have quite the crush on me there for a while."

"Yeah, and I'm not sure I'm completely over you. I still really like you, you know..."

"And Gin, I really like you too. I always have. It's just that… I love Hermione. More than life itself." Harry pondered his next thought for a moment. He was unsure of whether or not he should actually say the thing he was thinking of saying. It could either destroy any semblance of a friendship between he and Ginny, or pull them closer together. He decided, at that moment, he needed to. He had to. He took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"And Gin... I... I love you too. Just in a different way. Not like a boyfriend way, not in a brotherly way, but... in a best friend way..."

Thoughts of his life with Ginny suddenly overcame Harry. Saying the words "I love you" to Ginny felt second nature to him. He had done it for so long, and enjoyed so many wonderful times with her. But that life was gone now. He tried to push the memories of his old life into the back of his mind. He was aided in doing so when he glanced over at Hermione, who was smiling at him. The love he felt for her had helped battle back the old memories, and he once again focused on the Ginny that was dancing with him.

Ginny, for her part, was torn at Harry's frankness. How long had she dreamed of the day that Harry Potter would utter the words "I love you" to her? And now, here was that day, here was that moment, and there was no chance that he would mean them in the way she had always wanted. But there was a feeling that she heard in his voice. It was love. He did, truly, love her. But she saw the sparkle in his eyes when he looked at Hermione.

And it hit her like a ton of bricks. She loved him too. She always had. But it was different. It wasn't like Harry and Hermione. She never had that sparkle in her eyes for Harry. It was, just as Harry had said, it was the love of best friends. At that realization, all the tension left over from being upset at Harry and Hermione being together, disappeared.

"Harry... I... love you too... not in a girlfriend way... not in a sisterly way... but as a best friend kind of way," Ginny said as her and Harry's eyes met. They both smiled, and pulled each other into a tight embrace. They looked over at Hermione, who had a single tear running down her cheek. After the song was over, Harry and Ginny walked over to Hermione, and the three friends shared a loving hug. After their embrace, a voice Harry hadn't heard in many years pierced their perfect bubble.

"So Potter, snogging your little mudblood friend now are we? And trying to mend the poor broken heart of a Weasley? Wow Potter, could you pick two uglier girls to fight over?" sneered one Draco Malfoy. Harry had forgotten just exactly how much he despised Draco.

"Apologize to my wife and my friend _now_ Malfoy, before I do something _you_ might regret." Harry said through gritted teeth.

"Your wife? You'd actually _marry_..."

Before Draco could finish insulting Hermione, Harry, with a look of pure anger etched on his face, simply waved is right hand, and without uttering a single word; the blond boy lost his voice. He began to try and speak, but not a sound came out. He looked like a fish out of water gasping for breath. Harry then took his right palm, aimed it at Malfoy, and once again without muttering any incantation, gave a violent push against the air. Draco, who was standing several feet away from Harry, was sent flying backward, slamming into the wall behind him. Harry then started walking towards the fallen Slytherin.

"Don't... you... EVER..." Harry waved his left hand this time, and in an instant, Draco was dangling upside down, several feet in the air, hanging by his ankle. "...insult... my... wife..." and with another wave of his right hand, Draco's mouth seemingly disappeared, like a new piece of skin grew over it. "..._again_!" And with one more flick of his wrist, Harry sent his rival floating across the room, spinning slowly by his ankle like a top.

Several non-Slytherins were laughing and pointing at Draco as he floated past them. Hermione and Ginny simply stared at Harry in disbelief. Harry walked back over the two girls, who were now being joined Neville.

"You three should go, I'm probably going to be needed here to deal with the mess I just caused," Harry said to the trio.

"But, what if you get in trouble? All over a stupid comment Malfoy made about me Harry? And how did you do all that without your wand?" Hermione said with a worried tone in her voice.

"Don't worry about me love. I'll see you back in the common room. And before you go, I just want to say, Hermione, I had a wonderful time tonight, and I hope you did to."

"I did Harry. But you'll have to tell me everything when you get back to the common room. I won't go to bed until I see you!" Hermione gave him a quick kiss good-bye, and lead Ginny and Neville back to the common room.

For several hours, Hermione laid on the couch in the common room, waiting for Harry to arrive. Every few minutes she thought she heard him coming, because she'd hear his voice speaking to her: '..._I love you Hermione...I really want to be with you Hermione...Draco Malfoy will no longer insult you my beautiful wife, that I promise...' _Every time she heard him, she glanced around the room, but he wasn't there. '_Wow, I've really got Harry on the brain tonight...' _she thought to herself. But what was weird to her was that it wasn't entirely Harry's voice though.

'_It's like I'm hearing him in a canyon; he's echoing... am I going crazy or something? Oh Harry... won't you hurry up...'_

_'Hey... I'm trying here...'_

Hermione sat up, and looked around the room. "Harry? Where are you?" But there was no response. '_I could swear I heard him, like he was answering me... that was really weird...' _she thought to herself.

Several minutes later, she heard him again... '_I wonder if my sweetheart is still waiting for me...'_

And without thinking about it, thought to herself, '_Of course I am silly, I told you I was going to...'_

There was a long pause, and she heard him again, '_Hermione? Where are you?'_ Hermione chuckled to herself, thinking how absolutely ridiculous she was being, not only creating a mini Harry in her head, but talking to it. Just to amuse herself, she replied again to "mini-Harry's" voice.

'_I'm sitting on the couch in the common room... duh...'_

Another long pause. '_The Gryffindor common room?'_

_'No, the Slytherin common room. Really now. I'd like to think a voice in my head would be as smart as I am...'_

At that moment, she heard the portal door open. She sat up to see who it was. It was Harry. She got up quickly and ran over to him, threw her arms around him and kissed him, completely forgetting about her conversation with "mini-Harry". "Are you ok? Are you in trouble? What happened?"

"Whoa, slow down there Hermione. First, I'm ok. Malfoy on the other hand..." Harry snickered, "…let's just say he shouldn't be bothering us again. Second, yes, kind of. I have detention all this week with McGonagall, and all next week with Snape. But had I not been able to convince them that it was completely accidental, it probably would have been a lot worse."

"Was it completely accidental?" she said as they walked over and sat on the couch.

Harry sat there wondering if he should tell her what was really going on. He knew he was in complete control the entire time. It felt great to mess with Draco, and took quite a good acting job to convince Dumbledore and Snape that it was accidental. He decided to keep up the act for now.

"Well, mostly. It's like I got swept up in my anger. I thought about how much I wanted to embarrass him. Then I was waving my hands, and I felt a surge of energy go through me each time I did a spell. The first thing I was really in control of was walking over to you guys and telling you that you should leave."

"Wow Harry. You did wandless magic! That's amazing. Imagine if you could control it. Not even Dumbledore can do it! So, what ended happening to Malfoy?"

"Snape and Dumbledore were able to stop him from spinning and got him back on two feet. They couldn't figure out what I did to his mouth. Neither had seen it before. They kept asking me what I did, and I ran through exactly what I had been thinking of when I did it. Finally I remembered, but before I undid it, I warned Malfoy not to mess with you or me again. He seemed to take it to heart. For his sake I hope he does, I might not stop next time."

"Well, you were pretty scary when you were doing that to Malfoy. Remind me not to upset you that much," she smiled sweetly at him.

"You could never do such a thing love. Anyway, I'm off to bed. Good night." They kissed goodnight and both headed to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple of weeks after the Ball passed by without much in the way of excitement, unless you count the times "mini-Harry" had crept into Hermione's thoughts. While she rather enjoyed hearing Harry in her head, especially the times when it seemed like he had a mind of his own, it was getting kind of annoying. She was hearing him more and more, and it was starting to worry her. It seemed "mini-Harry" happened to say hi mostly when she was taking notes in class, which made it really hard to concentrate on her note taking. The worst class was History of Magic.

'_Hermione. Herrrmione. 'Mione. 'Miooooone. 'Mione 'Mione 'Mione.'_

_'Aaaaaaaah! Mini-Harry! Stop it! I'm trying to concentrate!'_

_'Mini-Harry?'_

_'What about it?'_

_'Mini-Harry? Is that my name now?'_

_'What else am I supposed to call you? "Voice in my head that sounds a lot like the Harry whom I love very much?"'_

_'Aww. That's sweet. I like that better.'_

_'Aaaagh! We're not having... I mean I am not having this conversation anymore.'_

_'Whatever you say mini-Mione.'_

_'What did you just call me?'_

_'Mini-Mione.'_

_'Why?'_

_'Because you called me mini-Harry. Therefore you are mini-Mione.'_

_'Ugh. Why do you always bug me when I'm taking notes?'_

_'Because I get bored during note-taking sessions like this. And really, how can you listen to this ghost drag on and on and not get bored?'_

_'Because my grades are important to me...' _Hermione glared over at Harry, who was sitting to her left, eyes closed, seemingly half asleep, '_...and my dear husband, who happens to be falling asleep as we speak, refuses to take notes himself.'_

_'But you take better notes!'_

_'So? The point is to try and retain the information in any form that will help you remember it.'_

_'Did you ever consider that he hates this class, and would much rather learn this dreaded material from you rather than pay attention to a boring ghost?'_

'_But that makes it harder on me!'_

_'Well, why not just nudge him or something?'_

Hermione, seeing that Harry still had his eyes closed, elbowed him in the ribs. Harry jumped, startled by Hermione's elbow. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she nodded towards the blank parchment in front of him. Getting the hint, Harry picked up his quill, and began writing.

_'Hey!'_

_'What?'_

_'What'd you do that for?'_

_'It was your idea.'_

_'Yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually do it!'_

_'Well, don't give me such a good idea next time.'_

_'Point taken.'_ And with that, mini-Harry went away for the rest of class.

* * *

It was a cold February morning when Harry awoke earlier than usual. He hadn't slept well the night before. In fact, he hadn't even slept in his bed, let alone alone his own room. He had is head lying on an open book, "_**Where There's a Wand, There's a Way"**_, and a wet spot where he had drooled. He had fallen asleep in the library. But unlike the last time, he wasn't there searching for a way to help him hold his breath for an hour. He was there waiting. Waiting for his salvation.

Harry had spent the better part of the last couple of weeks trying to stay true to what had happened the last time. He didn't want any unwanted changes to happen. Things were going smoothly so far. The last thing he wanted to do was _completely_ disturb the time line. So here he sat, just like last time, in the library the night before the second task of the Triwizard Tournament.

He had a back up plan if he needed it. But he has hoping not to have to resort to that. Dobby was due to arrive in three minutes. Harry had been careful to mention, within earshot of the impostor Mad-Eye, that he hadn't figured out how to hold his breath for an hour. Ten minutes to go until the third task was to begin, Harry's house-elf friend, Dobby, came to his rescue, just like he had hoped. Harry had been faining sleep for about twenty minutes, and now Dobby was poking in his side.

"Harry Potter must wake up sir!"

"Not yet... five more minutes..."

"No sir... Harry Potter must wake up now... or sir will be late for the second task! Harry Potter only has ten minutes until the task begins!"

"Oh no... and I don't have anyway to breath underwater!" Harry said, trying his best to act disappointed.

"But sir, if you eat this, Harry Potter will be able to rescue the thing he will miss most!"

"What do you mean?"

"Gillyweed sir! It will allow Harry Potter to breath underwater, to save the thing he will miss most from the merpeople! But sir must hurry! Ten minutes to go sir!"

"Brilliant Dobby! Thank you! You saved my life Dobby! I owe you big time!" Harry said as he took the gillyweed from Dobby and ran down to the Black Lake.

Harry ran as fast as he could down to the Black Lake, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He knew what he had to do this time. He had his plan completely figured out. _'I'll save Hermione and Gabrielle after Krum and Cedric get they're people_,' Harry thought to himself, going over his plan one final time. Harry figured, once again, it was best not to mess with a good thing. He didn't want there to be any chance that Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour didn't end up getting married. He couldn't bare to think that if he didn't rescue Fleur's little sister Gabrielle, that they wouldn't end up together.

Harry arrived at the lake out of breath, but in time. He stripped down to his swimming trunks, and at the count of three, waded into the lake. He put the gillyweed in his mouth, and dove underwater. He dove and dove, finally arriving at the bottom; finding the four victims. But Harry was in for the shock of his life.

As he reached the victims, Harry was stunned at who he saw down there. Hermione was there as he expected, as was Cho Chang, and Gabrielle Delacour. But the shock wasn't from seeing these three. It was the fourth that caught him off guard. It was the last person he expected to see at the bottom of the lake.

Ron Weasley.

Harry, treading water, was dumbfounded. Of all the people he thought he'd see down here, Ron was easily the last he expected to see. Confusion clouded Harry's thoughts.

'_Wait a minute here. Who am I supposed to save? My victim last time was Ron. And Hermione was Krum's. But... what's going on here? Shouldn't I be saving Hermione this time? She's my wife! But... Ron's here. I haven't even spoken to Ron in ages. Ok, Harry, think this through. Cho is for Cedric. That's obvious. Gabrielle is for Fleur. Dido on the obvious point. But... who's Krum's? Ron? Or has Hermione struck up a friendship with Krum in this time line too? This is supposed to be easier this time around. Well, I'll guess I'll wait to see who Krum takes. I swear, if he takes Hermione, she's got some explaining to do!'_

Harry swam over and hid behind a couple of large boulders, waiting for the other two guys to come get their victims. '_All I need now is for Fleur to come by too. That'd be just peachy..._' Harry thought to himself as he waited.

A couple more minutes went by, and Cedric, using the Bubble-Head charm, came and rescued Cho. Moments later, Krum came swimming down. _'Wow, Krum really doesn't look good as a shark.'_ Now came the moment of truth. Harry watched closely. And Krum took...

'_Ron? What in the bloody-hell is going on here? Well, at least my darling wife is off the hook now,'_ Harry thought sarcastically as he swam up to get Hermione. After releasing Hermione, he turned his attention to Gabrielle. The Merpeople guarding her immediately tried to stop Harry, but he raised his wand, and wordlessly casted a Shield Charm around himself and the two girls. Once he released Gabrielle, Harry took both girls and began swimming towards the surface. Thinking quickly, Harry pointed his wand towards the bottom of the lake, and once again, casted a spell by just thinking about it.

But with this spell, a beam of energy came from the wand, propelling Harry very quickly towards the surface. As he sped upwards, Harry could have sworn he saw two humanoid blurs carrying two other humanoid blurs as he went jetting past them. Within a matter of seconds, Harry had come to the surface, shooting out of the water with his two victims in tow.

After breaking the surface of the lake, Hermione and Gabrielle awoke from their slumber, and Harry swam them to the shore, and waded in the shallow water until the gillyweed wore off. After a few minutes of wading, Cedric came up with Cho, and soon after, Krum with Ron. When Harry saw Krum and Ron, the gillyweed was starting to lose its affect. Harry swam to shore, and was greeted by a hysterical woman, who was very determined to kiss him. But as Harry was engulfed by the woman, he noticed that the young lady who had taken a hold of him had the blondest of blond hair that Harry had ever seen.

"You saved 'er! Even though she was not your 'ostage! 'Ow can I ever thank you?" Fleur said hysterically as she grabbed Harry's face and kissed each cheek twice. Harry's cheeks immediately turned red, and muttered a barely audible "Your welcome."

He walked over to Hermione, who looked none to happy with her arms crossed, eyes narrowed. She was wrapped in a large white towel, and her hair was still dripping wet. "What do you think you were doing?" Hermione said as she was glaring at Fleur and Gabrielle, who were embracing.

"I... what? Huh?" was all the Harry could spit out.

"What do you think you were doing, saving her little sister? Why didn't you just save Cho while you were at it too?"

"What are you talking... oh... yea... I saw Fleur get caught up in the grindylows. And I didn't want to leave her sister down there, so I got her too. I'm s... wait a second. Why should I apologize for rescuing her?"

Hermione slowly cracked a smile at his reaction, and snuggled up to him. "My hero..." she said as she looked up at him and batted her eyelashes.

"Oh you... you... you little minx." he said through a wide grin as he looked into her eyes, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

'_You know, you're really teasing him right now, you know that right?'_ said mini-Harry. Hermione nearly jumped out of Harry's arms as she heard the voice in her head again, but she quickly snuggled back up to him.

'_So what? He loves me.'_

_'And he loves you too. But right now, I don't want to be a party pooper, but I think there's a water beetle in your hair right now.'_

_'You feel that? How?'_

_'Just grab it will ya?'_ And as mini-Harry said that, she reached up and grabbed the beetle he was talking about. She was shocked that there was actually something there. She looked at the beetle, and showed it to Harry.

"Harry! Look, a water beetle. It's cute!" Harry examined the beetle, and his eyes widened.

He withdrew his wand and said quietly, "_Accio_ rock". Then suddenly, in mid flight, the rock turned into a small jar, and with the skill of a Seeker, Harry snatched the jar.

"Hermione, put it in the jar."

"Harry, that's mean to do to a beetle. We should let it go."

"No 'Mione, put it in the jar, _now_."

'_You heard the man mini-'Mione. I think we should trust him on this one,'_ mini-Harry chimed in.

"Ok, ok. Here you go," Hermione sighed, and with that, she put the beetle in the jar. Harry quickly got another rock and transfigured it into a lid, and slammed it shut. He then pointed his wand at the jar and muttered something under his breath, and the jar glowed for a couple seconds, then went back to normal.

"Got ya! No more snooping around Hogwarts for you," Harry said to the beetle, seeming to mock it. "And I wouldn't attempt to transform in there. The likelihood of you surviving is as likely as a nargle in my nose."

"Harry, what are you going on about? Mocking a beetle in a jar is hardly funny."

"Yes, well, this isn't just some beetle Hermione. Take a look around its eyes, notice anything?"

Hermione took the jar from Harry and examined the beetle. After a few moments, her eyes went wide. "Oh my Harry, that beetle looks like..."

"Yes Hermione, you're right. It's Rita Skeeter."


	5. Chapter 5

Most people would be basking in the glow of holding first place in the Triwizard Tournament, but not Harry Potter. His mind was on the beetle currently being kept in the small jar he was holding. Thoughts of the horrible stories Rita Skeeter had written about him were certainly fresh in his mind. He remembered that Rita had been in Hermione's hair the last time, and he was not going to let her write another horrible story. Harry wanted to find out what exactly she was up to. He and Hermione took Rita up to the Room of Requirement after the announcement of the third task. Hermione chose the same room she had chosen to hear Harry's explanation of why he had kissed her.

Harry sat Rita's jar on the floor in front of the fireplace. Hermione sat down on the couch as Harry paced back and forth in front of the jar. After a few minutes, Harry pointed his wand at the jar, and shouted, "_Engorgio!"_ Soon, the jar was big enough for a human being to occupy, not comfortably, but somewhat.

"There, now you can stretch out your legs Ms. Skeeter. And I suggest doing so, for my patience with you right now is quite thin." Harry said with an edge to his voice. Rita took his advice, and morphed back from her beetle form. She looked quite annoyed to be imprisoned in a jar.

"Let me out Harry, or the public will know of your kidnapping!" Rita shouted through the glass.

"Are you going to leave out of your story the part about you being an unregistered Animagus Ms. Skeeter?" Rita opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. "That's what I thought. This going to be an interview: I ask, you answer."

"And why would I do such a thing?"

"Because you volunteering information is better than this…" Harry pointed his wand at Rita and shouted, "_Legilimens!_" Harry delved into the mind of Rita Skeeter. People and places Harry didn't know went flying by, undoubtedly past events in Rita's life. The first thing he recognized was the small broom closet in which Rita interviewed Harry. At that sight, Harry released her from the spell. "Do we have an understanding Ms. Skeeter?"

"How _dare_ you!" she spat as she was clutching her forehead in pain. "Who do you think you are?"

"Harry, what did you do?" Hermione asked in concerned voice. Harry looked over at Hermione.

"I'm getting much needed answers from someone I don't particularly like." Harry said with narrowed eyebrows. He then turned his attention back to Rita. "Now, do we have an understanding Ms. Skeeter? I prefer you just answer questions, but I'm sure can get some from you whether you give them to me or not.

Rita sat there mulling over her options. She didn't like having her memories shown to her teenage captor. She thought she might be able to lie her way out of this, or perhaps she wouldn't need to divulge any real information.

"Fine. What do you want to know about?"

"What story were you working on?"

"You'll just have to read it when I write it."

"Wrong answer. _Legilimens!_" This time, Harry went straight for things he wanted to know. He saw Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson talking to Rita. They were talking about Harry and Hermione. Then came Krum, talking about a girl whom he was getting close to, but who had just stopped communicating with him. The next interview was of Ron. Ron looked quite angry. He was talking about being stabbed in the back by his two best friends. There was then a flash of two boys being interviewed at the same time, but as soon as Harry saw who they were, he immediately pulled out of Rita's mind.

Harry was panting hard, and Rita was moaning in agony. She was slumped against the jar, clutching her forehead. Harry had a look of bewilderment on his face. "You were writing about _us_? Why? What did we ever do to you?"

"What's the matter Harry? Can't face the truth?" Rita said as she tired to catch her breath. "Can't face the fact that you two destroyed the hearts of not one, but _three_ separate people? Well, at least you Harry only smashed the dreams of a little girl. Last I heard she found someone decent. But that tramp you call a girlfriend stomped all over the hearts of two fine young men!"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione said, half crying and half yelling.

"What? You didn't know that you held in your hands the hearts of two, well I guess now three, different boys? First, cozying up to the best friend of Harry Potter, then the Quidditch superstar Viktor Krum, and now the world famous Harry Potter himself? I must say Ms. Granger, you certainly have a taste for glory don't you?" Rita then turned her attention to Harry. "That's what scared you, didn't it Harry? That Viktor and young Mr. Weasley had come to me, together, to talk about your little girlfriend?"

Hermione now had two long rivers of tears running down her face. She sprang up from the couch and ran from the Room of Requirement. Harry tried to reach out and stop her, but she was too quick for him. He took two steps towards the door, but thought it best if he didn't leave Rita Skeeter imprisoned in a jar here in the Room of Requirement.

He looked over at Rita, glancing daggers at her. "I'd morph back to a beetle if I were you, and make yourself comfy. You'll be in there for a long time." Rita opened her mouth to say something, but at the sight of Harry's wand, transfigured back to a beetle. Harry pointed his wand at the jar once more, muttered "_Reducio_," and the jar shrank back the size it had once been. He picked up the jar and shoved it into his robes. And as fast as his feet would take him, he ran after Hermione.

'_Hermione! Hermione! Where are you?_" Harry thought as he tried to chase after his hysterical wife. He had no idea where she had gone, but he was running to where he thought she would go: her room.

'_Not now mini-Harry! Not now!_' Hermione cried. Harry ran into the Gryffindor common room, and saw a flash of bushy, brown hair running into the girls dormitory. Harry instinctively ran after her, only to run full on into the invisible barrier protecting the girls dorm from any boy entering them. Harry was thrown backward several feet, and landed flat on his back. He got up, and his heart was racing. Harry was panicking, not knowing what to do. He wanted to comfort Hermione, and made a decision that was long overdue.

'_Hermione! Please come out!'_

_'Not now, please mini-Harry! I don't need this right now." _Harry could hear her sadness even in her thoughts.

_'Hermione, please,_' Harry pleaded. '_Please come out! I can't help you in there!'_

_'What are you talking about? You're in my head!'_

_'Hermione, I thought you would have figured it out by now. I should have told you sooner, but I was having too much fun allowing you to think you had a voice in your head. Well, I guess you do, but it's me. Really me. Harry. I can hear you when you talk to mini-Harry. I'm so sorry Hermione. Please come out!'_

There was a long pause. Bad thoughts were going through Harry's mind. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Hermione even more. '_I'm sorry Hermione. I love you. I love you so much, please say something._' Harry was standing in the common room, staring at the girls dorm, tears welling up in his eyes. Harry was completely unaware that he wasn't alone in the common room, that is until someone spoke to him.

"Harry, are you ok? What's wrong? I saw Hermione run up into the girls dormitory," came the worried voice of Neville. Harry was startled by someone invading his private bubble. Harry looked over at his friend, a tear rolling down his right cheek, afraid of the consequences of the last few minutes.

"She won't come out."

"Well, you haven't exactly called for her, have you?"

"I don't think shouting up there will help Neville," Harry said while wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Ginny should be back soon. I'm sure she would go up there for you. She just went to go see McGonagall about some homework." As Neville said that, Rita's voice came springing forward in Harry's brain: '_Last I heard she found someone decent_...'

"Yeah, I suppose." Harry sighed, resigned to waiting for Ginny to help him with Hermione. "Hey Neville, I heard that you and Ginny are dating, is that true?" he said, trying to force a smile. Neville gawked at him.

"H... how did you know? We haven't told anybody. We've only been official for a few days."

"Well, I have my sources Neville. And don't worry, Ginny didn't tell me. It's just, well, I have my sources. You deserve a wonderful girl Neville, and she deserves someone as nice as you are. You're perfect for each other. I hope it works out for you two."

"Thanks Harry. I know Ginny fancied you for a long time. I guess I was just worried for a while that she'd fall back into her old habits. But I've seen how you two act around each other now, and I know now that you two are more like very close friends. So, that's when I decided to ask her out. I don't think I actually finished asking her when she blurted out a yes."

"That sounds great Neville. Congratulations," Harry said as he sat down on the couch next to Neville. The two friends sat in silence, Harry staring into the fireplace, lost in his own thoughts. His thoughts drifted between the new couple and Hermione. He was worried about Hermione. The worst part about it was that he didn't know what to do. He thought back to his time with Ginny. Even after all those years, he still didn't know how to deal with hysterical, crying women.

"Harry?" came a quite voice from the stairs. Harry's head snapped around, and his focus came to rest on the red, puffy eyes of a beautiful, brown haired, brown-eyed witch. "Can we take a walk?"

"Of course." Harry shot up off the couch like his robes had suddenly caught on fire. He walked over to her, grabbed her hand, and led her out of the common room. As soon as they were in the hallway, Hermione stopped walking and faced Harry. She looked at him with a look of sadness and anger etched on her face. After a few seconds, she took her right hand and slapped him hard across his face.

'_How could you do that to me? Make me think I'm going crazy or something!_'

'_I'm sorry Hermione. I thought it was funny. I thought you would have caught on by now.'_

'_Yes, because telepathy immediately comes to mind when I hear your voice in my head,_' Hermione thought sarcastically.

"Um... what's going on here?" came the voice of Ginny Weasley, who was undoubtedly confused as to why Hermione had not only slapped Harry, but they seemed to be arguing without saying a word. "And Harry... when a girl slaps you, it's usually a good idea to apologize, no matter what."

"Yeah, I _was_ getting to that," Harry replied, as he rubbed the spot where Hermione had slapped him. "Hermione, care to continue our walk?"

"Yes Harry, that sounds like a good idea. We have things to discuss," Hermione said with a tinge of annoyance to her voice. "I'll talk to you later Ginny, see ya." Hermione grabbed Harry by the hand and started to lead him away from Ginny.

Harry turned his head around as Hermione was leading him away, looking towards Ginny. "If she comes back alone, send a search party, I may be dead, or worse," he said with a small grin on his face.

"Will do Harry. I'll be sure to send Professor Snape after you," Ginny said with a wink.

* * *

The smell of it all was almost too much to bear. Midnight strolls under an invisibility cloak don't do one good when it comes to a normal sleep pattern. Combine one part sleep deprivation, one part darkly lit room, one part horrible smelling perfume, and one part death-predicting teacher, and one would have the perfect recipe for a nice midday nap. Unfortunately for Harry, all of the above were true. His head was tilted to the side, resting heavily in his hand, elbow propped up on the circular, wooden table, one eye slightly open, and mind completely elsewhere. His thoughts drifted to and from random things in his half-conscious state: Hermione, the third task, Cedric, Ginny and Neville, Hermione's hair, quidditch, saving Cedric, Voldemort, Wormtail, Hermione again, parts of his past life, Cedric again.

He remembered all too well the feeling of watching Cedric Diggory die last time. He was determined to prevent that tragedy from occurring again. With Harry winning the second task outright this time, he would have a head start on Cedric. '_What am I going to do this time? I can't let anyone else win. It has to be me. Crouch will certainly want me to win, like last time, and clear the path for me. And when I get there, I just can't kill Voldemort. The horcruxes aren't destroyed yet. Ugh. I thought this was going to be easy. It sounded so easy that night. "Just go back Harry. Just kiss Hermione, Harry. Just save the world again Harry. Just do it better this time Harry." Why me? Sigh... Sad part is I know why... because I'd do it..._'

'_Harry, what's wrong? I just shuddered all of a sudden, and I feel kinda depressed now. Are you ok?_' Harry heard Hermione in his head, and she sounded worried.

'_Just thinking about some things I probably shouldn't right now. I'm sorry I made you feel depressed. Go back and concentrate on your Arithmancy. I'll see you after class. Love ya.'_

_'Ok, but I can still worry about you. Love you too,'_ and with that, Hermione left his thoughts.

Harry forced himself back into the classroom, at least for a few fleeting moments. He looked across the table, and saw Ron sitting there, much like himself, not paying the slightest bit of attention. This kind of behavior out of Ron was much more like the Ron Harry had known in his first few years at Hogwarts. Ron had seemed to mellow out over the past few weeks. After Harry and Hermione got together, Ron would sit in Divination and give dirty looks to Harry every chance he got. Now, Ron was appearing to accept the reality that was staring him in the face whenever he saw Harry or Hermione, a reality in which Hermione was not his. Ron had approached Harry on a few different occasions, but after receiving nasty glares from Harry, Ron didn't attempt to talk to him.

Finally, Professor Trelawney assigned them their homework; an astrological chart detailing what was to happen to them in the next two weeks. Harry quickly gathered his things, and proceeded out the door. He had taken two steps down the stairs, when someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Harry, wait up a minute," Ron said as he caught up to him, now standing side-by-side with Harry.

"What do you want oh jealous one?"

"Ok, I deserve that. I've been a prat since... well... since you and Hermione, you know..."

"Started dating?" Harry said, not wanting to come out and tell him that Hermione was in fact his soul mate and wife.

"Yeah, that," Ron sighed as the two former best friends walked down the stairs of the North Tower.

"Come to apologize have you? Well, apology _not_ accepted," Harry said, now getting irritated. "Saying sorry isn't going to cut it Ron. Especially after what you did."

"What I did?"

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly what I mean. But since Hermione never seemed to get through to you, perhaps I'll try and lay out everything for you. Remember your little interview with Rita Skeeter? And getting buddy-buddy with Krum and doing a nice little bit of Harry and Hermione bashing? Then going to her together to bash us some more? Please Ron, you think I wouldn't find that out?"

Ron looked completely crushed. "Harry, you have every right not to like me anymore. All I want is the chance to explain everything. To both you and Hermione. Can I at least have that chance?"

Harry stayed silent, contemplating Ron's words. After a few moments, Harry had his answer. "I'll tell you what Ron, I'll give you your chance, but only when me and Hermione are ready to hear it. We'll let you know when we're ready. Until then, I don't want to even know you exist unless I'm forced too. Good bye Ron." Ron merely nodded his head, and walked ahead of Harry, apparently content with the parameters Harry had set down. Harry continued to walk down stairs toward the Great Hall to meet Hermione for lunch, when he overhead a curious conversation.

"Why are you even in Ravenclaw? You believe in the weirdest things!"

"And you know that no boy would even look at you! You're so strange that even the ugly guys won't ask you out!"

Harry reached the bottom of the stairs, walked around the staircase, and saw that the two girls, a brown-haired, third-year Ravenclaw girl, a black-haired fourth-year girl, also a Ravenclaw, had cornered a cowering girl, who Harry could hear sniffling behind a magazine. He couldn't make out what magazine it was because there were black ink marks all over it. He saw however, long, dirty blond hair coming down from behind the magazine. A swell of guilt built up inside Harry. He was on his way to meet Hermione in the Great Hall, but the man who hated seeing people bullied prevented him from going any farther. He wanted to see who this young lady was. A knot in Harry's stomach though gave him a feeling he didn't like.

"Why don't you just quit school Loony, and save the rest of us Ravenclaws the embarrassment of having you in our house!" said the brown-haired girl in a disgusted tone. Harry's blood boiled at that comment. He wanted to hex these two girls into oblivion for picking on one of the few people he would call a friend, Luna Lovegood. He walked up behind them, a plan forming in his head.

"You girls are right," Harry said in a mockingly superior tone. The three girls nearly jumped out of their robes, startled by Harry. "Luna most certainly doesn't belong in Ravenclaw." The two mean girls grinned at Luna, pleased that the great Harry Potter had joined their side. Luna peeked over her magazine, tears in her eyes, looking at Harry. As the two other girls looked at Luna, Harry gazed into Luna's silvery-grey eyes, and winked at her. Luna slightly squinted at Harry, trying to decipher what he had meant by the wink he gave her.

"She belongs in a house worthy of such brave people, she belongs with me, in Gryffindor," Harry smiled as he held out his hand towards Luna. Luna's eyes grew wide, amazed that someone, anyone, was coming to her rescue, let alone Harry Potter. Not only that, if she wasn't mistaken, he had called her brave, and was now offering his hand to her. Without hesitating further, she put out her hand, and as he lightly took it into his, he pulled her away from her fellow Ravenclaws. The two mean girls were stunned at Harry's behavior, looking on in disbelief that Harry Potter had just taken the hand of Luna Lovegood. Harry however, wasn't done.

"You two on the other hand, belong in a house more fitting of _your_ attitudes. Slytherin house sounds right for you two," Harry said with as much controlled disgust as he could muster. "Come on Luna, let's get you away from these two." Harry led Luna away from the two mean girls, and once out of their sight, let go of her hand, and let her walk on her own.

Luna was staring at Harry, surprised that anyone would help _her_. She walked alongside Harry as he walked towards the Great Hall. "Thank you Harry, that was very nice of you. You didn't have to do that you know."

"Yes I did, no one should be treated like that Luna."

"I'm surprised you even know my name. We aren't in any classes together, and we're not in the same house."

Harry smiled as she said that. She sounded like the same Luna Lovegood who he knew from his last life, who would always tell it like it was. Even though this Luna didn't know it yet, she was about to gain something she didn't have before. "I couldn't let one of my best friends be subjected to that."

Luna looked taken aback by his comment. Harry chuckled at the look she was giving him. It was the first time in his life that he'd ever seen Luna shocked. "Best friends? Really? Wow Harry, you certainly have an interesting idea of what a best friend is. I won't complain though, I've never had someone _want_ to be my friend, let alone want me to be one of their best friends. But you must have lots of best friends if you consider me one, seeing as we've just met."

"Well, I've known you a lot longer than you think. And I know you well enough to know that I would put my life in your hands, and that if Voldemort returned, you'd be one of the few people who would stand with me against him."

Luna blushed at hearing Harry's kind words. "You really think I'm brave, don't you? Why?"

"It's a long story. And rather complicated."

"Would you like to talk about it? It's the least I can do for you since you saved me from those awful girls back there. And it sounds like an interesting story too."

Harry looked at her, and saw she really meant what she said. She was always willing to listen to him, no matter what he had to say. Then again, he was always willing to listen to her, no matter how many times she brought up Nargles and Wrackspurts, or whatever creature was on her mind at the time. Harry wondered if he really wanted to talk about what was on his mind. He'd been considering telling Hermione the entire story, but he was unsure of how she'd react. With Luna, he was sure she'd accept whatever he said, and honestly discuss it with him. It was one of the qualities he'd always liked about her. Harry looked around, saw an empty classroom, and decided to share some of the burden he'd been carrying around since he'd come back.

"Luna, would you mind stepping in here for a moment, I don't really want anyone to overhear us." Luna nodded, and they entered the small, spare classroom. "Well, I first want to say that I haven't even shared this with Hermione yet. Mostly because I don't know how she'll react to it."

"But you think I can handle it?"

"In not so many words, yes."

"Why?"

"Because, you have always had the ability to see the bigger picture. You don't reject things just because other people think they're silly. You leave open the possibility; you have a well of understanding that most people don't have capability to possess. And mostly, I don't think you'll laugh at me if I tell you."

"Of course I wouldn't Harry. It feels awful to have someone laugh at you because you believe in something that other's don't understand."

"And that's why you're one of my closest friends Luna."

"Why do you keep saying that? Is that what you wanted to share with me? Did the Wrackspurts cause me to lose my memory, and you really _are_ my friend?"

"Well, yes and no. Yes, it does have to do with us being friends. And no, you didn't lose your memory." Harry ran his hands through his messy black hair, rubbed his neck, and gave off every sign of being nervous. He knew what he was going to say was going to sound ridiculous, which is the reason he was going to tell Luna first. "I guess it does have to do with memories though. I just have a lot more than everyone here."

"Here?"

"Yeah... here... and now, I guess would be the proper term. You see Luna..." Harry sighed. Here it was, the moment he had been dreading since coming back. He felt the weight of his words, and hoped that sharing them would help release some of the burden he had been carrying for months on his own.

"...I've gone back in time."

After a slight pause, Luna tilted her head to the side, and looked curiously at Harry. "How far?"

"A long time, actually," Harry said as he was slightly cringing, still worrying about how he sounded.

"I can see why you're so nervous about sharing that. Not many people have gone back in time, as far as we know anyway. It's hard to notice such things, unless they come right out and say it like you did. But why did you come back? I can't imagine you coming back just to be friends with me. Did You-Know-Who come back, and you were sent back to fight him?"

"To be honest, I didn't need to come back for that. I came back because, if I don't fix a couple things, our entire world will cease to exist, as we know it. At least, that's what I was told."

Luna tilted her head to the other side now, her Ravenclaw mind furiously processing what Harry was saying. "Wow, that's a lot of responsibility. And I thought just doing homework was bad enough. You have to worry about a Potions essay, and whether or not sneezing wrong will unravel the universe."

"Yes, well, lucky me." Harry said sarcastically.

"I'm guessing we didn't meet like this before, did we?"

"Not exactly, but I couldn't just stand by and let them tease you like that. We actually didn't meet until next year. But that's not important right now. I don't think I _need_ to say this, but can I trust you not to tell anyone about this? At least, until I can get the rest of the group together?"

"I think even if I did tell someone, they wouldn't believe me anyway Harry. I don't think if I told anyone that you even knew my name they wouldn't believe me. So, is this the last time I get to speak to you, or do you want to still be friends with me? And what do you mean by 'the rest of the group'?"

"First, you'll see about the rest of the group. Second, of course Luna," Harry said as he took both her hands into his, and looked into her eyes, "I will always, _always_, be your friend."

Luna smiled the biggest smile Harry had ever seen from her. "Thank you Harry. You're now my second friend. At least, I think. I don't know if she thinks I'm a friend, or if she just tolerates me. But she seems to like me, Ginny's always been nice to me."

Harry chuckled at the thought of Ginny defending Luna, hexing anyone who made fun of Luna with her famous Bat-Bogey Hex. "Yes Luna, I do think Ginny considers you a friend. Well, if I don't get going, Hermione will be upset with me. Thank you for being _you_, Luna. I'll see you around." And with that, Harry hugged Luna, and went off to join Hermione in the Great Hall for dinner.


	6. Chapter 6

Springtime had come and gone too quickly for Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Neville, and as the month of June dawned, Harry was now forced to face the facts. Soon, he would be face-to-face once again with his greatest enemy, Voldemort. But this time, he knew he would win. He knew he was more powerful than the Dark Lord. The greatest concern on Harry's mind was how, in fact, to go about defeating him. Certainly, staying strict to the events of the last time-line were out. There was no way Harry was allowing all those close to him to die again, not if he had in a say in it.

Harry had decided that he could not do this alone. He knew he had friends who would fight by his side. He also knew that it was not their abilities on the battlefield that he needed. He needed their support in overcoming his burden. The burden that he'd been carrying around since he had come back. Sure, telling Luna about it felt good, but he knew that he needed to finish the job, he needed to start coming clean about who he really was, and what he needed to do.

The first step he decided on was creating a way to communicate with everyone he needed to. Harry remembered Hermione's great idea during their fifth year when they started Dumbledore's Army. But this time, instead of galleons, he would create something much more meaningful to him. He wanted his friends to show their support of him. He created nine little lightning bolts out of copper, six that were to be earrings, three to be pins.

Harry found Hermione in the common room, sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. He walked over and stood in front of Hermione, and she looked up, gazing at him warmly. He grabbed her right wrist, and turned her hand so that her palm was facing upward. '_Open please_,' he thought as he smiled at her. She returned his smile, and opened her hand. Harry placed a pair of lighting bolt earrings in her hand, and closed her hand for her. '_These are for you. You don't have to where them as earrings, because I know you aren't big on jewelry. They're the symbol of our group._'

Hermione opened her hand, and looked at the earrings. '_These are wonderful, Harry! I'd love to wear them,_' Hermione thought as she put them on. '_Did you make them yourself?_'

'_I did in fact. And this is all your idea, believe it or not._' He went on to explain what they did, and Hermione looked very impressed with Harry.'_But I've got to go and give out some more bolts, I'll talk to you later,_' he thought as he leaned over and kissed on the forehead before walking off to find the others.

He then approached Ginny and Neville, and gave a pair of earrings to Ginny and a pin to Neville, explaining their significance. He told Ginny that even if she didn't wear the earrings, to keep them with her at all times, which she readily agreed. After that, he had one pair and pin left. He knew who they were for, but getting them to the people he wanted too were going to be more difficult. He decided to approach Luna first. At dinner, he walked over to the Ravenclaw table and tapped Luna on the shoulder, earning curious looks from everyone around.

"Luna, may I talk to you out in the hallway? It's important." Harry whispered in Luna's ear.

"Sure thing Harry." Luna replied. She got up from her dinner, and walked with Harry out into the hallway. He then walked her out of the castle entirely, and started walking towards the Black Lake.

"I'm sorry to take you away from your dinner and away from the castle, but I didn't want anyone overhearing us." Harry said in a quite voice.

"It's quite ok. Does this have anything to do with you coming back? Is there more you want to tell me?"

"Well, actually it does. This also has to do with the group I told you about. We're getting together, and I needed to give you something. It's a way for me to communicate with everyone in the group." Harry held out his fist, looking like he was wanted to give her something. Luna held out her palm, and he put in her hand a pair of bolt earrings. "These are for you."

Luna held up her hand to her face and examined the earrings. "They look very nice Harry, I'd be honored to wear them," she said as she removed her radish earrings and replaced them with the ones Harry had just given her. "Maybe now everyone won't think I'm crazy for defending you when I don't supposedly know you. I know it's not your fault, and I don't go around saying that I know you or anything, or that you think of me as a friend, but it'll be nice to be able to have a small symbol of you with me. I'm glad to see that you're finally embracing your scar."

"First off, I could care less if you ran up to the Astronomy Tower and shouted to the entire school that you're my friend. I told you before, you're my friend, and you'll always be. Second, the scar is kinda my thing, it's the first thing people notice about me. Why not use it to my advantage for once? People will know who my true friends are." Luna blushed at hearing Harry refer to her as a true friend. "Now, these just aren't earrings, they're more."

"What do you mean Harry?" Luna said while absentmindedly playing with her left ear lobe with its new ornament. They had stopped walking half way between the castle and the lake.

"It's a way to communicate with you. It's genius if I do say so myself. It was Hermione's idea. See mine here?" Harry said as he showed her a lightning bolt shaped like hers, only bigger. "This is the master one. I can send messages to anyone who has a bolt. If you have it on you, you will hear a chime in your mind's ear. It will go off every five minutes if you don't listen to the message, or if you don't' have it with you, it will chime as soon as you touch it. To listen to the message, just squeeze either bolt for a couple seconds, not to hard, and you'll here my message to you telepathically. Here, I'll show you."

Harry pressed his bolt, and stood there for a couple seconds. Luna then heard a small chime in her head. She reached up and squeezed her left earring bolt, and heard, '_Hi Luna. This is Harry. Just testing. Say something to me when you're done hearing this.'_

Luna's eyes grew wide at hearing Harry. "Wow, that's amazing! Can I send messages back?"

"You certainly can. Press and hold the bolt for a couple seconds. You'll hear me say something to you, and then you just say in your minds voice what you want to say. Release the bolt when you're done. Try it."

Luna looked impressed at Harry's words. She once again squeezed her left bolt earring, and after a couple seconds, she heard Harry again. _'Sending a message, begin at the chime... chime...'_

_'Hi Harry. It's Luna. I don't know what to say, so I'll just say bye. Bye!' _She released the earring, and heard Harry once more.

'_To confirm message, do nothing. To redo message, press and hold the bolt within three seconds.' _Luna chuckled at hearing Harry say that.

"You sound funny Harry."

"Yes, well, I was trying to sound like a answering machine."

"A what?"

"Never mind, it's a muggle thing. Now my bolt chimed, and I press mine, and..." Harry listened to Luna's message, and chuckled at her message. "I hear your message. You can only send messages to me, but I can send them to everyone or just a specific person. Well, we better be getting back to the castle," he said as they started walking back to the castle.

"You know Harry, you're my first boyfriend..." Luna's eyes grew wide and her cheeks went Weasley hair red when she realized what she had said. "I mean boyish friend... I mean... guy friend..." Her face was now completely red, which contrasted greatly with her dirty blond hair, and she started to run away from Harry. But before she was more than two steps away from him, he reached out and grabbed her arm, preventing her from running away. Harry was laughing, but he tried his hardest to suppress it, not wanting to embarrass her further.

"It's ok Luna, I know what you meant. No need to be embarrassed. And don't worry. I'm kinda used to girls having crushes on me. One Ginny Weasley had a big crush on me, both this time and last time. This time it ended because of me and Hermione. But last time? Well..." Harry thought back to his time with Mrs. Ginny Potter. "Let's just say she didn't really get over me," he said with a smile.

"Who said I had a crush on you?"

"Your red cheeks."

Luna, whose rosy cheeks had begun to lose their color, quickly had blood rushing back into them. "I... well... can you blame me? You're the first boy to be nice to me. And you're quite handsome." This time, it was Harry's turn to blush. "It's no wonder so many girls fancy you. Me, Ginny, Cho, and lots of others I'm sure. All jealous of Hermione of course. Well, I'm not, not much anyway. And not Ginny, now that she's got Neville. I'm not really because you talk to me, and you gave me these pretty communication devices, you don't even know Cho exists." Harry chuckled, thinking of Cho, his first girlfriend last time.

"I'm sorry to say no one really stands a chance against Hermione. She's got my heart for the rest of my life. You'll find out why when the first meeting comes around, which will be soon. I gotta get going Luna, I'll talk to you soon. Bye." Harry then ran up to the Gryffindor common room, with one pin left to give, and unsure how to give it to the person of whom he was intending on giving it to.

* * *

Harry met up with Hermione in the common room. She gave him a big smile when she saw him.

'_And where were you?_'

'_I told you, delivering a pair of earrings to someone. I want to talk with you about Ron,_' he thought as he sat next to Hermione on the couch. '_Do you think we should forgive him?_'

'_Harry, I've been ready for a while. It's so sad to see him now. He looks so lonely without us. I've seen him approach us and not say anything. You look at him like you want him to drop dead. I didn't want to say anything until you did. I think we should at least hear him out._' He put his arm around her, and she snuggled up next to him, putting her head on his shoulder.

'_I think it's time. I want to hear what he has to say._'

'_Well, he's sitting over there at the desk; there's no time like the present, right?_'

'_How true that is,_' he said as he kissed her forehead. Harry turned his head towards Ron. "Hey Ron, why don't you join us here on the couch?"

Ron nearly jumped out of his chair; startled by the fact the Harry had actually addressed him. Ron looked at Harry, and saw for the first time in months, he wasn't glaring at him. He saw that the emerald green eyes weren't full of anger, more like curiosity. Ron wasn't expecting to spill his guts tonight, but he certainly didn't want to lose this opportunity. He got up, and walked over to the couch and joined his two former best friends. They sat on one side of the couch, cuddling. He sat on the opposite side of the couch, leaning against the arm. He took a deep breath, and looked at his friends.

"So, you finally ready to hear me out?" Ron said in a quite, reserved tone of voice.

"Yes Ron, we're ready. Hermione's been ready for a while. It's been me who hasn't been. But I realized something recently. I've been holding something against you that's been beyond your control. For that, I'm sorry. I should have let you explain what's been going on. So please, tell us what you've wanted to say. I promise no matter what, I won't get upset. I'm sure this is difficult enough for you." Harry said in a calm, soothing voice.

Ron was happy to hear Harry be nice to him. He wanted so badly to have his best friend back. This little push from Harry was all Ron needed to hear. "First off, I'm sorry for being upset at you two for being together. I've had in my mind that you Harry, would be with Ginny, and I would be with Hermione. And when I saw you two kiss that day, I saw that dream being shattered before my very eyes. It didn't help I saw Ginny's reaction too. I got upset for the both of us. But since then, Ginny and you guys have been close friends. It took me a while to realize that Ginny had forgiven the both of you soon after that day." Ron took another deep breath, and even had a small tear in his left eye.

"Then, I came to a big conclusion: Something that snapped me out of my sulking mood, something that took me a long time to get over. And it's this: Harry, if Hermione never existed, and that first day on the train, would we have shared a compartment, and become best friends?"

Harry looked at Ron with a puzzled look on his face, unsure of where he was leading the conversation. But he decided to go along with it. He thought hard about Ron's question, and came to a simple conclusion. "Of course Ron. You were the first friend I ever had in my life. If Hermione didn't exist, we still would have become best friends, yes."

"And what if I didn't exist? What would have happened then? Would the two of you become best friends as well? I think so," Ron said, not allowing them to answer his question. "Heck, you two probably would have gotten together sooner."

"I think so too, Ron. You know what I said that day, that ever since I laid eyes on Harry, that I loved him," Hermione said.

"Exactly. Now, what if Harry didn't exist?" Ron said, letting the question linger. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, a look of curiosity etched on their faces, both wondering where Ron was going with this. After a few moments, Ron spoke again. "I think back to our first year Hermione, and I remember how I felt about you. I remember thinking you were just a bossy, know-it-all girl. And without Harry, I don't think I would have ever come around to see you for who you really are. Without Harry, there's no way we would have been friends. So it is him I have to thank for that. And in that realization, I knew that it wasn't meant to be between you and me Hermione. Harry has always seen in you something I couldn't. I hope that you two can forgive me. I really want to be friends with you again. I miss you guys."

Harry looked at Ron, wanting to accept his friends' heartfelt apology, but there were still a couple questions he wanted answered before he full forgave Ron. "I just have a couple question Ron. Why did you go to Rita Skeeter about us?" Harry asked.

"I didn't exactly go to her. She found me, right after the big blow up. I was so furious, I said a lot of things I shouldn't have. Things I really didn't mean. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. She's a nasty woman that Rita Skeeter," Hermione chimed in.

"And what about Krum? How did you get to know him?" Harry asked again.

"Well, after I calmed down, I started going to the library a lot, hoping to be able to talk to you Hermione. But instead, I found Krum there, a lot actually. We ended up talking quite a bit, and he asked me if I knew you. I of course was all too willing to share that I was a friend of yours. We ended up talking a lot about you, mostly Hermione bashing sessions really. That's when Rita came back around and wanted to interview us both together. We did it. I'm not proud of it. Then came the second task, and I was Krum's choice for a victim. After that task, he called you a cheater Harry. He thought you used illegal magic or something. I may have not been too happy with you, but I knew you weren't a cheater. I told Krum so. Since then, we haven't spoken." Ron looked rather depressed having to relive the past few months' events. But at the same time, he was happy to be talking with Harry and Hermione again.

'_What do you think 'Mione? Should we forgive him?_'

'_I do Harry. I can tell he misses you. And me too, but it's you I think he misses most._'

Harry took a deep breath, and looked Ron in the eye. "Ron, we forgive you." Harry said. Ron had a big grin on his face after hearing those words from Harry. "Now, there's something I want to give you." Harry reached into his pocket, and grabbed the last remaining bolt and tossed it to Ron. He caught it, and looked curiously at it.

"Looks cool, like your scar. What is it?" Ron asked. Harry explained what the bolt did, and afterward, Ron looked impressed. "Wow Harry, that's a right bit of magic you've got here," he said as he pinned the bolt to his robes. "I won't take it off, expect for the shower of course."

Harry was pleased to have Ron back as a friend. He realized he'd been holding his grudge against the old Ron and pinning it on the Ron sitting on the couch with him. '_It's not fair to him. This is a different Ron, one that doesn't argue with Hermione anymore. It's time to let that grudge go,_' Harry thought to himself.

"Our first meeting will be in a couple nights, so don't make plans." Harry said to both of them.

"What meeting?" Hermione and Ron said in unison.

"You'll see," Harry said with a smile.

* * *

Ginny was sitting back in her chair in History of Magic, half asleep, sitting to the right of Luna Lovegood. She glanced over towards the window where the sun was shining through. Luna threw back her hair, and Ginny saw, at least she thought she saw, a glimpse of the same copper earring that Harry had given her. She focused on Luna's ear, but her hair had fallen back, covering up any earring that Luna may or may not have been wearing. Ginny sat through the rest of class, wondering if she saw what she thought she saw, and pondering if she did, why did Harry give Luna, of all people, the lightning bolt earrings? Yes, Ginny did consider Luna a friend, but how did she know Harry?

* * *

Harry laid in his bed, early in the morning, before the sun was up. Moonlight was illuminating the room. He was clutching his master bolt, wondering exactly what to say. He wanted to send the message to everyone before they woke up. He was hoping that no one was wearing them at this time in the morning. He squeezed his bolt, and heard his own voice in his head: _'Sending a message to whom?' 'Everyone.' 'Begin at the chime... chime...'_

'_Meeting at 7:30pm. Go to the 7__th__ floor corridor. Hermione will show you where._' He released the bolt. '_To confirm message, do nothing. To redo message, press and hold the bolt within three seconds.'_ Harry waited for a few seconds, letting the last message be sent. He wanted to send a message to Luna separate from everyone else. He knew she would most likely not be welcomed at first by his other friends. But she was important to him, and it was important to Harry that everyone else accept her. He squeezed the bolt once more. _'Sending a message to whom?' 'Luna.' 'Begin at the chime... chime...'_

'_Luna, it's Harry. I want to meet you before the meeting starts, and bring you to the meeting myself. I'm afraid that the others won't accept you there unless you come with me to the meeting. I want everyone to like you and be friends with you. Meet me at the entrance to the Great Hall just before 7:30. See you then._' Harry released the bolt, and tried to go back to sleep. He wasn't exactly looking forward to that night's meeting.


	7. Chapter 7

At dinner that night, the five Gryffindors slated to go to the special meeting all ate together, four of them unaware that a Ravenclaw was also due to meet them there. They all sat in silence, wondering what exactly Harry wanted to meet them for. At the end of dinner, Harry knew he needed to hang back and wait for Luna. He decided that there was only one way to do so.

'_Hermione? Can you lead everyone else up to the 7__th__ floor corridor, but don't open the room yet. I have to talk to someone before the meeting. I'll meet you guys there._'

'_Sure, no problem Harry. Who do you need to talk too?_'

'_The sixth member of our group._'

'_Sixth member? I thought it was just the five of us?_'

'_Don't worry. It's someone we can trust. Anyway, take these guys up there; it looks like we're all done eating anyway. Might as well start early._'

'_Ok Harry, I trust you, and I trust your judgment._' "Ok, shall we get going for our, um… study session?" Hermione said to the group. Everyone nodded and got up. However, Harry didn't accompany them. Instead, he once again made his way to the Ravenclaw table. He found Luna sitting by herself, like always. He tapped her shoulder, grabbing her attention.

"Ready to go Luna? Everyone else is making their way there."

"I'm ready," Luna said as she got up from the table. They walked out of the Great Hall, and started walking up the stairs when Luna spoke up. "Harry, do you think your group will accept me? I'd really like that. I'd like having friends to talk to. It gets boring doing everything by myself."

"I think they'll be surprised to see you at first, but they'll accept you. Maybe not immediately, but they will when they see I trust you." Luna nodded as they made it to the top of the stairs, and they saw the other four people waiting for them. Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville were waiting patiently for them. When they saw Harry and Luna walking together, all four of them were surprised.

"I knew I saw your bolt earrings!" Ginny exclaimed when she saw Luna. "How do you know Harry?" she said as she ran over to hug Luna.

"He rescued me from some awful girls who had cornered me. Since then, he's been the only boy that's been nice to me. You and him are my only friends you know." Ginny blushed when Luna said that. She had no idea that truly no one seemed to like her. Ginny felt guilty for not being a better friend to Luna, and was determined to make her feel welcome amongst the group.

'_Hermione, why don't you show them the Room of Requirement?_' Harry thought to Hermione.

'_Sure thing love,_' she thought back. She walked three times back and forth in front of the wall, and once more, a door appeared where once there was none. Luna, Ginny, Ron and Neville stared in wonder at the newly formed door.

"Bloody hell, where'd _that_ come from?" Ron said as he pointed at the door.

"_That_, Ron, is the Room of Requirement. It appears only when someone is in real need of it. Come on, let's go inside," Hermione said to the group.

Everyone made themselves comfy inside. Hermione had once again chosen her study room to enter. Hermione, Ginny, and Neville sat on the couch. Luna sat on the floor in front of Ginny, leaning against the couch. Ron sat in the comfy chair to the left of the couch. Harry stood in front of the group, preparing his nerves for what he needed to tell them. He cleared his throat, and all the eyes in the room were now upon him.

"Welcome everyone… to the first meeting… of Dumbledore's Army. Henceforth known as the DA." The group looked confused at first, but after a slight pause, lightly applauded. "Everyone in this room is here for one reason, and one reason only. Everyone here is someone I deeply trust." Harry took a deep breath, and continued. "What gets said and done in this room stays in this room. I've asked you all to be here because I have something to share with all of you." Luna raised her hand. Harry turned his attention to her. "Yes Luna?"

"Does this meeting have anything to do with what you told me about Harry?" Luna asked.

"Yes, in a way it does."

'_Harry, did you tell her something you haven't told me?_' Hermione asked in his head. Harry's head snapped to look at Hermione.

'_I told her something, yes. I needed to gain her trust._'

'_But I thought she already had your trust?_'

'_She does. I needed her to trust me. Listen Hermione, can we discuss this later?_'

"Hey, what the bloody hell is going on here?" Ron said with a bit of annoyance to his voice.

"Nothing." Harry and Hermione said in chorus.

'_Later then Harry. I think you owe me an explanation._'

'_I owe everyone here an explanation, actually._'

'_What are you talking about?_'

"Merlin's beard, you two are doing it again! I thought I was just imagining it last time. Nev, see the way they are looking at each, back and forth, like they're talking without speaking? You guys have telepathy, huh?" Ginny said with an air of excitement about her.

"What are you talking about Ginny?" Hermione said in a worried tone.

"Oh come off it! That's really neat! Being able to talk to each other without being in the same room would be great!" Ginny retorted. "How long have you been able to do it?"

"A few months, actually." Harry answered.

'_Well just tell everyone our little secret!_' Hermione thought to Harry.

'_Oh come on. It's not like she doesn't know already._'

"Out loud please, so we can all hear you arguing." Ginny said in a sing-song manner.

"It's not important right now. What is important is why I wanted you all here. I've had another… err... vision."

'_Why didn't you tell me?_' Harry glared at Hermione when he heard her in his head.

"So, Harry, what was this… vision… of?" Luna said, blinking at him knowingly.

"A lot, actually. I should tell the rest of you why this is important. I had another… vision… earlier this year. It showed me…" Harry said, now looking at Ron. "… that Hermione was my soul-mate. That's why me and Hermione are together Ron. Because we're soul-mates. We're actually considered…"

"Legally married by wizarding law. Yeah, I know about soul-mates," Ron said, with a little smile on face. "I just never thought my two best friends would be each other's soul mate. Makes me kind of happy I didn't start dating you Hermione, knowing now that two soul-mates wouldn't have gotten together. Well Harry, go on about this other vision."

"That's very nice of you to say Ron, but yes, please continue Harry," Hermione said.

"Well, it's mostly about Voldemort. He's coming back. And my vision showed me how to defeat him." Shocked faces were now staring at Harry. "I've been trying to plan this out perfectly for a while now. My vision showed me specific things that were going to happen, and they have so far. I know now that it's coming true, and that I have to face him after the third task. And I've asked you five here tonight, to tell you that if I fail, you must continue the fight."

"Of course Harry," Ginny said, and the others nodded in agreement, except for Hermione. She was looking at Harry with tears in her eyes.

'_No, I won't lose you! I won't let you face him alone!_' she thought as she sprang to her feet and hugged Harry fiercely.

'_Don't worry Hermione. I won't lose. I know how to beat him. With Dumbledore's help, he doesn't stand a chance,_' he said to her he hugged her back, and ran his hands through her bushy hair.

"Dumbledore's help? Have you told him about your vision Harry?" Hermione said out loud.

"No, I haven't told him about my vision, but I'm going to tonight. He and I will take out the Horcruxes. Then it'll be up to me to kill him after the third task." Harry said, trying to comfort Hermione.

"The what?" Ron gasped. Harry went on to explain about the Horcruxes, leaving out the part about being one himself, however. He thought that one was best left a secret unto himself. After explaining to them about the Horcruxes, Neville spoke up.

"How are you going to find You-Know-Who, after destroying these, Crux things?

"That's the beauty of it all. I won't have too. He's giving me a portkey to get to him. The first person to touch the Triwizard Cup, will be transported directly to him. That's why I have to win, I have to get to the cup first. If anyone else does, I don't know what will happen. I don't want someone dying if I'm to slow to get through the maze."

"Then we'll help you practice Harry, all of us. I'm sure we'd all be glad to help," Luna said.

"That would be great Luna, and everyone, but I think I'll be ok in the maze. What I need from the five of you is to make sure Mad-Eye doesn't go anywhere during the task." Harry said.

"Why Mad-Eye?" asked Ginny.

"Because, I'll need to see him after I get back. Or, in the unlikely event of my failure, he'll be the key to finding me."

"We'll do whatever we can to help you Harry," Ron said.

"I know, that's why you're all here." Harry said as the six friends embraced. "I need to go and see Dumbledore. This first meeting of Dumbledore's Army is now closed."

* * *

As Dumbledore's Army left the Room of Requirement, Harry hung back from the group, letting them walk away. He knew they were all heading back to their respective common rooms, but he wanted a word with Hermione before he spoke to Dumbledore.

'_Hermione. Can I talk to you for a moment?_' he thought to her as she was walking down the stairs. She turned around and walked back to Harry, putting her arms around his waist, and resting her head against his chest. He instinctively put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace. '_I wanted to apologize to you. I haven't been as forth coming with you as I should. But, there's a reason why I haven't, and it's not because I don't trust you. I just don't know how to tell you everything without sounding like a nutter. This burden is too much for anyone to handle, even me. And I told Luna about it, yes, but I didn't share any details with her. And in time, I'll share everything with you. It's just..._'

'_It's ok Harry. I've felt that you've been carrying around something heavy for the longest time now. I didn't want to bring it up, because I know that you love me, and you'll share everything with me. It just came as a little shock that you shared something with Luna Lovegood before me, that's all._'

'_There's a reason for that. It'll make more sense when I share everything. Now's not the time though. I don't need you worrying anymore about me than you already are._' Harry leaned over and kissed Hermione on the forehead. '_I love you. Nothing bad will ever happen to you while I'm near you. And I promise I'll be alright after the third task, all thanks to you._'

'_Thanks to me? How am I supposed to be the reason you'll be alright if I'm not there to help you?_'

'_It's been awhile since I've heard it, but I think it goes something like this: He will have power the Dark Lord knows not. And that power, is love Hermione. The love I feel for you, and the love you feel for me. Voldemort's great weakness, is his refusal to love, and his fear of death. Those two things will help me beat him._'

'_You sound so confident Harry. I wish I could share your confidence. I believe in you Harry, I really do. I just..._'

'_I know. You're worried about me.'_ Harry chuckled to himself. '_Welcome to my world. That's my job you know. Worrying about all those close to me, everyone I care about, everyone I love._' He looked down at her, slightly pulling away, and took his right hand, carresed her cheek, and then pulled her chin up so that he could look at her. Tears were welling in her eyes, but a smile adorned her face. He wiped away the tears with his thumb, and smiled back at her. '_I love you Hermione, more than life itself._'

'_I love you to Harry. Don't you have to go see Professor Dumbledore?'_

'_Yes, in fact I do.'_ Harry leaned down and kissed her gently. He pulled away from her and started walking away. '_I'll see you later.'_

* * *

Harry ran towards the Headmaster's office. He waved his hand at the gargoyles, and they sprang out of the way. He ran up the stairs, and knocked on the door. "Enter," came from a voice from behind the door. Harry opened the door, and walked into Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Harry, what a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you this wonderful evening?"

"I've had another vision Professor."

"Really? What of this time? I hope not another soul-mate. I don't think Ms. Potter would appreciate that." Dumbledore smiled at Harry.

"No Professor. It has to do with Voldemort. He's trying to come back."

"I don't think that's a great surprise Harry."

"Yes, but they're planning something, Voldemort and Pettigrew. It has to do with me and the third task. And I know about the Horcruxes too." Dumbledore cocked his head at the young wizard. How did such a young man know about Voldemorts' greatest secret?

"Harry, how do know of the Horcruxes? No one knows about those except myself and..."

"Slughorn, I know. Remember, vision. It shows you things you're not supposed to normally know," Harry said with a grin.

"What do you know about them?"

"I know what they are, and where they are," Harry said as he took out something from his robes, and threw it on the Dumbledore's desk. "And here's one of them as proof I know about them. It's the..."

"Lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw," the old man said as he picked up the diadem. He looked at the young wizard standing before him, astounded that he had found something that had been lost for hundreds of years. "Where did you find this?"

Harry walked over and picked up Godric Gryffindor's sword. He was deciding whether or not to tell Dumbledore where exactly where he found it, or tell him a slight fib. "I found it... in the Chamber of Secrets. Vold... no...," Harry decided, at that moment, to never utter the name Voldemort ever again. "Tom Riddle put it there when he came back here and asked for the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. Can I see it again Professor?" he asked, holding out his hand. Dumbledore gave Harry back the diadem, and he set it on the table. He aimed the sword at it, swung, and connected with it. A crack formed in the middle of of it, and the piece of Voldemort's soul that resided in the diadem showed itself, shrilled a terrible scream, and disappeared.

Harry smiled as he saw the miniature Tom Riddle evaporate into nothing. Dumbledore slightly titled his head in amazement that Harry had destroyed one of the Horcruxes in front of him. "Harry, you said you knew about all of them and where they are. I have a good idea as to what they are, but if you wouldn't mind sharing what you know, or at least what your vision showed you."

"Of course Professor. Riddle's diary, the one that took over Ginny in my second year, was one, but I believe you knew that one already." Dumbledore nodded. "The diadem obviously. Hufflepuff's Cup, which is in the Lastrange vault in Gringotts. The Marvolo ring which is at the Morvolo estate. Which, by the way, is the Resurrection Stone, the third Deathly Hollow." Dumbledore was once again shocked at the knowledge possessed by young Mr. Potter.

"You know of the Deathly Hollows Harry?"

"Yes Professor, and I also know that two of the three Hollows are possessed by two people in this room. You, the Elder Wand. Me, and my invisibility cloak. But, about the Horcruxes. Where was I? Oh yes. Diary, cup, diadem, ring..." Harry said as he counted on his hand, using them as an imaginary list. "The locket of Salazar Slytherin. It currently resides at 12 Grimmald Place, the Black house, sir. It's previous home was a cave on the coast where Riddle had taken a few of his fellow orphanage kids and scared them. There's also Nagani sir, Riddle's snake. She is also a Horcrux. And..." Harry said, pointing to his forehead.

"You know of the seventh Horcrux then Harry? And of the prophecy then I am assuming?"

Harry looked up at Dumbledore with a knowing look. "The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal," Harry said, pulling back his messy hair, showing Dumbledore his all-too-familiar scar. "But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not, and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... Yes sir, I know."

"And what of you Harry? What of the seventh Horcrux?"

"I have a plan sir. After the third task. He will return, weak and vulnerable. I can take out the last two Horcruxes with one stone, so to speak sir. At least, within quick secession."

"Last two Harry? But there remain, as you said, five."

"Well sir, I was hoping we could change that. The locket will be the easiest sir. Sirius should be able to get it for us. The cup I believe, since Bellatrix is still in Azkaban, can be taken from her vault because it was stolen, and is property of Hogwarts, is it not sir?" Dumbledore nodded. "As for the ring, I think we should both go get it sir. Together."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea Harry."

"Forgive me for being so blunt, but I don't believe it would be such a good idea if you went alone, sir. I know everything about you and Grindelwald, about your pursuit of the Hallows, about Aberforth, and Ariana. I know that you wanted to bring her back, to use the Resurrection Stone. But it doesn't work like that Professor. You would disturb her peaceful slumber sir. And I think I know you well enough sir to say that you wouldn't want that, right?"

A tear formed in Dumbledore's eyes. How did this 14-year-old boy know so much? And how had he become so wise? Dumbledore could only chuckle at that thought. "Perhaps Harry, you are wise well beyond your years. Yes, it is true, I wanted to bring her back for the longest time. And if faced with that chance once more, would I be strong enough to resist? I don't know, so you may be right, together then. But not tonight. Tonight, I send word to Sirius and the Minister. We need those other Horcruxes. Then, tomorrow night, you and I shall pursue the Marvolo ring. But what of Riddle himself? You said you had a plan."

"Yes sir, I do. But I won't tell you what it is. Doing so will only complicate things. Trust me, I know what I'm doing." Dumbledore opened his mouth to protest, but words failed to come out. He knew that Harry had faced off with Voldemort before and prevailed. Harry had shown quite a bit of knowledge in things he shouldn't, perhaps there was more to it than what was on the surface. He decided that young Harry Potter must face his destiny someday, and it appeared he was ready to do so.

"Very well Harry. Tomorrow night then, meet me in the Entrance Hall, at 9pm sharp. Unless there is something else, it appears we both need our rest. Good night Harry."

Harry turned and left Dumbledore's office, walked back to his room in Gryffindor tower, and crashed onto his bed, falling fast asleep.

* * *

"Harry, you can't honestly believe that Dumbledore is going to take you with him. You're too young! He'll probably think you'll just get in the way or put the two of you at risk." Hermione said, with concern dripping in voice.

"She's right you know. She's always right. This _is_ Hermione were talking about. And besides, it'll be dangerous!" Ginny said with the same tone as Hermione.

"Ginny, Hermione, I'll be fine, and yes, he _is_ taking me with him. I _am_ the one who knows where it is after all. You two should know better than anyone else here that I've faced quite a few dangers in my life. Let's see," Harry held up his left hand, and using his fingers, counted the number of times his life had been in peril. "Voldemort, Quirrell plus Voldemort, a basilisk, Tom Riddle's ghost, otherwise known as Voldemort, a Hungarian Horntail, plus..."

"Ok ok, we get it. You're Harry Potter, get-in-trouble extraordinaire, and I happen to remember a few of those things you know," Ginny retorted sarcastically.

"I know Gin, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm going. If I don't, he might die. Ok? So I'm going."

"What? How could Dumbledore die from retrieving a silly ring?" Hermione scoffed.

"It's not the ring per se that would kill him, but the curses placed on it by Riddle... I mean Voldemort. I have to be there to make sure he doesn't make the same... uh... mistake..." Harry winced at the word "same" when it left his tongue, as he knew he was about to hear about it.

"Same? What do you mean same?" Hermione said with the worried tone back in her voice. Harry stood in silence for a few moments, trying to think of a good excuse to cover his slip up. Once again, the vagueness of the term "vision" came in handy.

"When I saw the vision, he made a bad mistake. It led to his death. I need to make sure it doesn't happen like that." Ginny and Hermione looked at other, both with a concerned look on their faces. They looked back at Harry, and Ginny was the first to speak.

"Then go Harry, it's almost time. But be careful," she said in a defeated voice.

"I'll be fine. I'll be back before you know it." Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak from beneath his robes. "I gotta go, I'll see you two soon." The three embraced, and Harry gave Hermione a quick kiss, threw his cloak on, and started to leave the Gryffindor common room.

"Good luck," Hermione and Ginny said in unison.

_'Be safe Harry.' Hermione thought as the portal door opened and closed, without anyone visible going in or out._


	8. Chapter 8

Professor Dumbledore was standing in front of the door in the Entrance Hall, waiting for Harry to arrive. He had been pacing for no more than twenty seconds, when he heard footsteps behind him, but no one seemed to be there. He smiled, and looked in the general area of where he heard the noise.

"I'm glad to see you putting that to good use this year Harry, and not using it for more, shall we say, mischievous purposes."

"Well, don't speak to soon Professor. I've still got three years left," said the disembodied voice of one Harry Potter. Dumbledore chuckled at Harry's comment, and opened the door and let the two of them outside the castle. They began walking towards the gates of the school grounds, where they would be able to Apparate.

"I take it that you and Hermione have been taking nighttime, romantic strolls under your cloak this year instead of your regular nighttime adventures?" Harry was thankful he was under his invisibility cloak, for he was blushing heavily.

"Yes Professor, it's been... quite nice actually." Harry said shyly.

"I'm sure it has." As the two made drew closer to the gates, Dumbledore's curiosity got the best of him. "Harry, may I ask you about these visions you're having?"

"What about them, sir?"

"It has been my experience that most visions are more cryptic, more ambiguous, than the ones you seem to having. Yours seem very detailed, full of information. How many of these visions have you had?"

Harry didn't quite know what to say. He knew exactly what the truth was, and he didn't feel he could share the whole truth. But perhaps, a half-truth would do.

"Well sir, I'm not entirely sure. It's more like I get to experience it. Maybe not experience it exactly, but it's like a Pensieve, where someone's memories are shown to me. I see something happen, and I have the ability to do something about it. I get shown a worst-case scenario, what can happen if I don't act soon enough."

"Very interesting Harry. Divination has never been one of your best subjects, so I'm sure this has been quite strange for you."

"Indeed, Professor."

"Well, here we are, the edge of the grounds. Have you ever Apparated?" Harry opened his mouth to respond, but Dumbledore cut him off. "Oh of course not, I sometimes forget you're only fourteen with how much you've been through. Here, grab onto my arm, and we'll make our way there." Harry removed his cloak, stuffed it under his robes, interlocked arms with Dumbledore, closed his eyes, and felt that familiar feeling of Apparation. When he opened his eyes, he was on the road to the Gaunt house. Both Dumbledore and Harry pulled out their wands, and soon light was shining on the path.

They walked for a good half-mile up the road, when Harry felt the hair on his arms stand up. It was a feeling he'd felt before. As an Auror, he'd been taught how to detect protective wards and spells, and he got to the point where he could feel them from a good distance away. They continued to walk, as Dumbledore seemed unaware of the wards. As they got closer to the wards, finally Dumbledore put out his arm, stopping Harry.

"I believe we've walked as far as we can without being detected. There seems to be powerful wards protecting the area immediately surrounding the house. Removing them will take some time Harry, please stand back while I work on removing them."

"How long do you think it will take Professor?"

"I'm unsure of an exact amount of time, though I'm sure it will not take more than an hour."

"An hour, sir?" Harry sounded astonished that Dumbledore couldn't remove these wards very quickly. "Maybe I should do it, I was able to feel them a ways back on the path."

"Harry, this is very advanced magic. But, perhaps, I am underestimating you dear boy." Dumbledore took a couple steps back, holding out his left arm, offering Harry the opportunity to step up and try, but sure that he could not overcome them. Harry nodded, and walked forward to where Dumbledore was standing.

Harry closed his eyes, and let his magical power wash over him. He could feel the magic radiating from the wards. He raised his arms, wand in his right hand, his left open and facing the wards. Deep in concentration, Harry felt in tune with the world around him. His body began to shake from the force of the magic coming into him. He began muttering incantations under his breath, and with a violent wave of his hands, the wards broke, releasing a large, magical sonic boom, the force of which nearly knocked Dumbledore over.

Harry came out of his magical trace, and looked over at the headmaster. Dumbledore looked confused and bewildered at the sight he had just witnessed. Had he really just seen a fourth year student break Voldemort's most powerful protective spells and wards, in only a couple of minutes no less? His mouth was a gape; quite certain he was dreaming this. Surely, this was not real.

"Shall we go get that ring now, Professor?" Harry asked, a small smirk on his face. Harry still felt the magic flowing through him, but was letting it pass, not storing it up like he was.

"Harry... my goodness... Merlin himself couldn't have... how did you do that?" Dumbledore asked in wonder of the boy that was standing before him.

"Perhaps we can discuss it later sir, but we still have work to do," Harry replied as he started walking up the path to the Gaunt house. "I'd like to get back to Hogwarts as soon as I can. I told Hermione and Ron I'd be back in time to finish my Transfiguration essay." Dumbledore simply shook his head, following Harry up the path.

They walked in silence up the road. Dumbledore was contemplating just how exactly this young wizard had become as powerful, if not more so, than himself. He chuckled at the thought of trying to read Harry's thoughts the past several months. It seemed that ever since that day Harry and Hermione came bounding into his office, asking about soul-mates, that he couldn't read Harry's thoughts anymore. '_Perhaps it has something to do with the soul-bonding experience,_' Dumbledore thought. After another quarter of a mile, the pair had reached their destination. As they approached the house, Harry through out his arm, much like Dumbledore had done earlier.

"Wait. I feel something," Harry said in a calm tone. Dumbledore stopped walking, intrigued by the boy, and was certainly willing to let a younger wizard handle this. Harry closed his eyes once more, and reached out with his left hand, palm facing the house. It looked like he was feeling for a wall in the dark. He finally felt something: a protective ward on the door. He opened his eyes, and he gave a quick burst with his palm against the air. The front door to the house burst open. Another, yet this time smaller, magical sonic boom occurred. Harry started walking towards the front door, when Dumbledore put a hand on Harry's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. Harry turned his head and looked at Dumbledore, who was looking Harry directly in the eye.

"Harry, when you told me of your latest vision, I was afraid for your life. Now, I pity Tom Riddle. He doesn't know what he's getting into," Dumbledore said, smiling widely, beaming at Harry, and patting him on the shoulder.

"Thank you sir, but power does not guarantee victory or grant immortality, nor does it guarantee that my plan will work."

Dumbledore chuckled, and shook his head at his favorite pupil. "Powerful and wise, strong and humble, caring and forgiving, I could not be prouder to call you my student Harry. In fact, you may be able to teach this old man a few things late in his life." Harry nodded in appreciation, and walked into the house with Dumbledore still clutching Harry's shoulder.

The house was old and run down. No one had been in there it seemed for over 15 years. Broken furniture, cobwebs and dust were everywhere. Harry's eyes scanned the room, settling on an old desk. He felt something magical radiating from within. With Dumbledore right behind him, he walked over to the desk. He opened one of the drawers, and saw the Resurrection Stone sitting alone inside. The powerful curses that were placed on it by Voldemort pulsed through Harry. He once more reached out with his left hand, palm facing the ring, and this time, started muttering under his breath. The ring began to glow and vibrate. Soon, it was floating in midair; Harry still muttering, deep in concentration. Within a matter of moments, a small, magical sonic boom came from the ring when the curses had been broken, and it fell back into the drawer. It was now just a Hallow and a Horcrux. Harry opened his eyes, reached into the drawer and grabbed the ring. He picked it up and brought it up near his face to examine it closer. It looked quite nice without the large crack in it.

"We have what we came for. Shall we get going Professor?" Dumbledore nodded, and with the wards having been removed, was able to Apparate back to the grounds from right where they stood.

When they arrived back on the grounds, they both walked back to Dumbledore's office. A major surprise was awaiting them when they got there. A big, black, shaggy dog was sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk, with a golden locket hanging out of his mouth.

Harry, upon seeing the dog, burst into tears, and ran towards the dog. "Sirius!" he shouted as he slid on his knees, embracing the dog. The dog dropped the locket, and barked in a loving manner as he was being held. Harry let go of the dog, stood up and stepped back a couple feet. The dog then transformed into the most wanted criminal in the entire wizarding world.

"Harry, it's so good to see you again!" said Sirius Black, bringing Harry into a tight hug. After a few tender moments, Harry and Sirius let go of each other, and Harry wiped away his tears with his sleeve, and looked at his godfather. "What are you crying for boy? It hasn't been _that_ long has it?" Harry had been devastated when he lost his godfather the last time, and seeing him here, in the flesh, healthy and alive, was almost too much to bear. Harry was smiling brightly at Sirius, and Sirius was returning it.

"I'm sorry, it's just… been a while… since I've seen you," Harry said weakly.

"I'm glad to see you made it here unharmed Sirius. And I see you've come baring gifts," Dumbledore said, gazing at the golden locket, which was lying on the floor. "Well Harry, it appears we have the three Horcruxes here now. Minister Fudge came by earlier today with Hufflepuff's Cup, which I'm sure you saw sitting on my desk." Harry looked past Sirius to Dumbledore's desk, and noticed an old cup he recognized indeed as Hufflepuff's. Harry grinned at the thought of his plan falling into place. He bent down and picked up the locket, and sat it next to the cup. He then reached into his robes and grabbed the ring, and placed it with the other Horcruxes.

"So tell me Harry, why do you need these things to defeat Voldemort?" Sirius asked.

"I don't need to use them actually. I need to destroy them. You see, Riddle used these and other objects to house bits of his soul, to try and make himself immortal. There are seven total. Two have already been dealt with. There are, obviously, three sitting here, which leaves two more that need to be destroyed after tonight. They are the two hardest to get rid of. I have a plan in place that will allow me to rid the world of the Horcruxes and Lord Voldemort once and for all."

"That's sounds excellent, spoken like a true Potter if I do say so myself. James would be proud of you Harry," Sirius said, smiling at Harry. The young Potter nodded in appreciation at his godfather, and walked over to Gryffindor's sword once more, and picked it up.

"Hey Sirius," Harry said as he picked up the cup. "Wanna have some fun?" Sirius looked curiously at Harry, wondering what his godson was thinking. Harry tossed the cup to Sirius, which he caught. Harry then put the sword over his shoulder, and stood like a baseball player, swinging the sword like a bat. "Toss it to me," he said, smiling at Sirius. With an intrigued look on his face, he tossed Hufflepuffs cup underhand towards Harry, who took a mighty swing at the cup. He connected with the cup, but instead of shattering like he thought it would, it merely did what the diadem did, which was crack. It fell to the floor, and out of the crack, came the piece of Voldemort's soul that resided in the cup. It showed itself, much like the diadem, shrilled a terrible scream, and disappeared. "One down, two to go," Harry said with a smile.

Sirius and Harry repeated the procedure with the next two Horcruxes, which ended with the same result as the cup and the diadem. Dumbledore looked at the cracked relics that were lying on the floor of his office, amazed that all of them had once held part of Voldemort's soul, and now, there were only two remaining. "Harry, it appears that things are falling into place for you. I'm sure your plan is well thought out, but I implore you to have a back-up in case things go differently than you think they will. I know you had your vision, but the events of the past few days may change things." Dumbledore said.

"Well, that was the idea sir. With most of the Horcruxes out of the way, I can concentrate on what I have to do to finish this. I must tell you one thing about my plan though sir. If, by chance, I do die in the process, you and your Army will receive a will, if you will. It will tell you everything sir. But I can't share that with you unless it is absolutely necessary."

"My Army, Harry?" Dumbledore asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes sir. It will make sense later." Harry replied with a smile. Dumbledore simply nodded, unsure if questioning Harry would really net him the answers he would want. Harry walked over to Sirius and hugged him fiercely once more. "It's wonderful to see you again Sirius. After I kill Riddle, I'll see if I can't clear your name," Harry said while pulling away from his godfather, saying the last part with a wink.

"One bad guy at a time Harry, one at a time," Sirius replied grinning, patting Harry on the shoulder, knowing that his godson meant every word. "You should get to bed, you look exhausted, I'm sure Dumbledore will tell me everything that happened tonight." Without saying another word, Harry gave a simple nod to both Sirius and Dumbledore, left the headmaster's office, and stumbled his way back to his bedroom, where he fell asleep within moments.

* * *

It was a nice, sunny Sunday morning, and Harry and Hermione were sitting together on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. Harry was sitting up at the end of the couch, leaning against the arm, and reading the mornings _Daily Prophet_. Hermione was stretched out on the couch, her head resting in Harry's lap, reading the monthly _Quibbler_ that Luna Lovegood had given her a few days ago.

"You know what Harry? The _Quibbler_ is completely full of rubbish, even more so than that rag you're reading." Harry looked down at Hermione, smiled and nodded, and grunted in agreement. He really wasn't reading the paper, he just wanted to look like he was doing something. His mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about the previous night, when he saw his godfather alive and well. It made him feel so happy to have his godfather back in his life. "Harry?" he heard Hermione say, but he wasn't paying much attention to anything other than his thoughts about his godfather.

'_Harry? Hellooooo there. Anyone home?_' Hearing Hermione in his head snapped him back to reality.

"Sorry, just thinking about Sirius, that's all. He was here last night. It was good to see him."

"That's sounds nice," Hermione replied, not really paying attention to what he said, because she had something on her mind. "Harry, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything."

"When did you fall in love with me?" she asked, setting down her magazine.

"What?" asked a flabbergasted Harry as he tossed his paper to the side.

"When did you fall in love with me? I never really got around to asking you that. It's like, all of a sudden, you walked into the Great Hall, professing your love for me, and kissed me. But when did you _actually_ realize you felt that way about me? You must admit, that was quite sudden what you pulled that day, not that I'm complaining about it or anything," she said with a smile, poking him in the ribs. "You told me that your vision showed you how I felt about you, but you've never shared with me when you fell for me."

"Um... I don't know. What about you? When did you realize you loved me?"

"Hey now, I asked first!" she replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yes, but I'm a guy. I need some time to answer something like this. You go first. I'll tell you about me when you're done." Hermione huffed at the idea at first, but thinking that she wasn't going to get him to budge until she shared, she gave in.

"Ok, I'll go first. But you have to answer after me!" Harry simply nodded in agreement. "Well, I've always liked you, even when I first read about you in all those books when I learned I was a witch. I knew there was a good chance that we'd meet, I just didn't think it would be on the train, nor did I think you would be quite as nice as you were. That's why I was rambling on about you, I was just so nervous to be around you at first. Then came the entire troll incident, and we became close friends. The feelings have just grown since."

Hermione took a deep breath, and continued. "Then earlier this year, when Viktor and I started talking, well, I guess you could say flirting, it sort of opened up this door inside me that I hadn't explored yet. For the first time, I let myself start having romantic feelings for someone. But with Viktor, it just didn't feel as good as I thought it would. At the first task, when we shared that hug in the tent, I felt my heart nearly leap out of my chest. And I knew it wasn't Ron that did it do me. It was then I realized just what it was I felt for you Harry." After a slight pause, she took a deep breath, and seemed to mentally switch gears. "Ok, I've spilled my guts. Your turn," she looked up at him, smiled, and winked.

"Hmmm... well... I don't know," Harry lied. He knew the exact moment he realized it. He had loved her for a long, long time as a friend. Or so he thought for all those years. For the first few years he was married to Ginny, he thought _that_ was love. And he was right, it was. But it wasn't the deep, true love he thought it should be. After many years, both he and Ginny realized that it really wasn't as good as they thought it would be. They did love each other, but it was if they were only really good friends. They both never broke their vows, and had three wonderful children together whom they loved very much. They stayed together, both happy, but their feelings for each other weren't as deep as they wanted.

When Hermione divorced Ron, both Harry and Ginny were there for her, but it was Harry who helped Hermione the most. When she needed to cry, Harry held her. When she needed to laugh, Harry teased her. When she felt down on herself, it was Harry who helped her be confident in herself once more.

When Ginny died, it was Hermione who helped Harry get through it. She held his hand at the funeral. She said the words that soothed his soul in his darkest time. It was Aunt Hermione who helped James, Albus and Lily cope with losing their mother. She was their second mother, and helped Harry's children raise their own. She became a grandmother for not only her children's children, but for Harry's as well. Harry was a grandfather to Hermione's grandchildren because Ron had moved away a long time before.

Harry was offered the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position a year after Ginny died. He had just turned 50. Wanting to get away from the pain of losing Ginny, he accepted the job. He begged Hermione to take the Transfiguration job, which coincidentally, was open as well. As happy as she was at her job at St. Mungo's, she didn't want Harry to be alone, so she accepted the job as Transfiguration teacher.

After just a year on the job as teachers at Hogwarts, Headmistress Sprout retired. Harry was unanimously voted to be her successor. He initially refused to take the job, even threatening to quit, but it was Hermione and Professor Longbottom who talked him into taking the Headmaster post. Harry had thought that Neville should have been the choice for Headmaster, seeing as he had been there the longest. But both he and Hermione told Harry that Headmistress Sprout had said only one person reminded her of Professor Dumbledore, and that was Harry, and that he should be the next Headmaster. Finally, he relented. The day he took over the position, he appointed Hermione to be Deputy Headmistress.

For more than 20 years, Hogwarts had the same two teachers at the head of the school. Until _that_ night. _That_ night, Hermione was visiting her parents graves. She liked traveling by muggle car to most places. She always said it kept her connected to her parents. On her way back to London, several drunk teenage boys were driving recklessly when they ran a stop sign and crashed into Hermione's car, killing her instantly. The boys escaped the Muggle Police, and the Minister said that nothing could be done because it was a muggle crime, not a magical one. The outcry in the wizarding community was felt far and wide, and most of the Aurors spent all their free time searching for the boys.

Harry was crushed. He felt empty inside, like his heart and soul were ripped out of him. Only then, did Harry fully comprehend his feelings for Hermione. He knew he had loved her all his life, he just never allowed himself to think of her _that_ way. He loved her with all his heart. He felt ashamed of himself for not seeing it earlier.

When she died, Harry received a special letter a day later, meant only to be read after someone has passed away. It appeared out of no where, like it had apparated into his office. The letter was in an envelope, addressed to him, which looked very old. His name was written in Hermione's handwriting. He opened the envelope and took out the letter. It was addressed to him, from Hermione. He thought it was quite short for a letter written by her. But the words it contained were more powerful than any amount of length could.

_Dear Harry,_

_I don't know when you'll read this, but there is something I need to tell you. First, I'm sorry that if you're reading this, then I have died. I hope it is at some point in the distant future, and that we've lived full and happy lives. I also hope you already know what I'm going to say in this letter, for I hope that I have had the courage to say it to you, rather than in this silly letter. But you know me, always wanting a back-up plan in case something happens. So this is my back-up plan. Anyway, to what I have to tell you. I can't believe how nervous I am writing this, I can't imagine actually telling you in person. Well, here it goes. _

_Harry, I love you. More than life itself. I have since the day I met you. You have always been special to me, way more than Viktor or even Ron. I'm sorry for never acting on my feelings, and for hiding them from you. I look at our lives now, and wonder what if I had the chance to do it over, how would it be between us? I can't help but think it would be wonderful. I wouldn't let Ron or Ginny get in the way._

_I just wanted you to know my true feelings Harry. And if I never tell you in person, know that I do love you, and please forgive me. And if you're still with Ginny, I'm sorry for doing this to you, but I hope that you feel the same way. I'll be waiting for you on the other side,_

_Love, Hermione_

For three full days after hearing of her death, Harry holed himself up in the Headmaster's office. He spent the entire time either crying, reading her letter, sleeping, or spending time in the Pensieve, reliving every wonderful memory he had of her. He was the saddest during his time in the Pensieve, seeing how much she had cared for him over the years, yet he was too infatuated with the looks of other girls, even including Ginny. He had always thought Hermione was good looking, but never allowed himself to ever think of her in any other way than a friend. And when he lost her, he felt like dying himself. Harry spent his nights crying and wishing he could go back and redo everything. He swore that he'd do anything to be with her again. Luckily for Harry, fate intervened, and he was tapped for an important mission, and was able to go back in time.

And so, here Harry sat, on the verge of fighting Voldemort once again, and Hermione was laying her head in his lap, asking him about his love for her.

"Ok, maybe not. I guess I do know," Harry sighed. "I thought about what my life would be like if you were ripped away from me," he said, a tear in his eye, thinking of the day she died and her letter. "When I thought of that, my heart fell in my stomach. I realized I never wanted to be apart from you, and that I wanted you to be with me. I knew that if something bad happened, I'd be ashamed of myself for not telling you how I felt, that I loved you. I'd do anything for you Hermione, anything." He was running his hands through her hair and caressing her face, a couple tears softly rolling down his cheeks. Her own eyes were filled with tears, and she brought up a hand to caress his, and a loving smile was etched on her face.

"That has to be the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life, Harry James Potter," she said softly. She stretched her neck upwards as he leaned over, and they shared a tender kiss.

"Eww you two, get a room if you're going to get all mushy," Ginny Weasley said as she tossed a pillow at the sappy couple, which struck Harry on the top of his head as he was kissing Hermione. "Or at least keep it between the two of you, like I _know_ you can, so the rest of us can keep last night's dinner in our stomachs."

"Oh shut-up Ginny! You _wish_ you were in my position!" Hermione retorted, throwing the pillow which had hit Harry and landed on top of her back at Ginny, which completely missed her.

"Well, let's see," Ginny said, running over and leaping in the middle of Hermione and laying right on top of her in the exact same position. Hermione struggled beneath Ginny, hair being forced into Hermione's mouth and nose, her arms flinging out from beneath. "Hmmm... not bad," the girl with flaming red locks said with a straight face, looking up at Harry.

"You know, as much as I could get used to this, I don't think Neville would appreciate this Ginny," Harry said with a smirk.

"But Harry, here I lay, throwing myself at you, please, don't hurt me again..." Ginny fained, the back of her hand on her forehead, trying to act emotionally scarred. But as soon as she said that, she found herself face down on the floor. Hermione wrapped her arms around Ginny's waist, and with all her strength, rolled off the couch and onto the floor, where she landed on top of the red head.

Hermione, seeing Ginny in the vulnerable situation she was in, began tickling her best friend. Ginny started struggling, trying to squirm out of Hermione's grasp. Harry was laughing hysterically on the couch, watching his two best friends tumbling on the floor, trying to tickle each other. "This is will... OW!" Hermione was hit square in the face with a pillow by Ginny, who had an evil grin on her face. Hermione grabbed the pillow forcefully from Ginny and began whacking her with it. "...teach you...thwack... to interrupt... thump...a nice... smack...romantic... wham... conversation I'm having with my Harry!"

Harry was clutching is stomach, dying from laughing at the two girls. Both of them stopped the fighting for just an instant, and stared at the boy who was laughing at the them. They turned their heads to look at each other, and both their faces lit up at the same idea. They sprang to their feet, Hermione dropping the pillow, and both girls jumped on Harry, trying to tickle him now, Ginny taking the top half and Hermione the bottom.

Harry curled up into a ball on the couch, but it was no use. The girls simply jumped on top of him and began their assault once more. Just then, Harry heard a male voice, and he was hoping he'd be rescued. "And what do you two think you're doing to the Boy-Who-Lived?" Harry couldn't make out who it was.

"Nothing," both girls said in chorus, momentarily stopping their assault, trying to give the best innocent looking faces they could. Ginny then smiled and batted her eyelashes at the boy when she realized who it was.

"Anytime I see _that _look from you Ginny, I know trouble is around," said Ginny's boyfriend, Neville Longbottom. "I'm going down for breakfast, anyone care to join me?" Ginny nodded enthusiastically, but Hermione was shaking her head.

"No thanks Neville, Harry and I ate already. We'd just been back a few minutes before _somebody _interrupted our nice conversation," Hermione said, shooting a mock glare at Ginny. Ginny replied by sticking her tongue out at her, and got up and walked over to Neville, thrust her hand into his, and the happy couple waved at the couple on the couch and walked out of the common room.

Harry was breathing heavily, trying to recover from the fit of laughter and assault that had just taken place. He would have to remember to thank Neville for his unintended rescue. He uncurled, rolled over and looked at Hermione, who was sitting near his feet. She got up and sat next to his head, and leaned over him so her long brown hair engulfed his head. "Now, Mr. Boy-Who-Lived, where were we?" Hermione said with a sly smile.


	9. Chapter 9

'_I need a place to teach them to fight... A place to practice... somewhere no one else can get into...' _Harry thought, walking three times back and forth in front of the blank wall on the 7th floor. Suddenly, a door appeared in the wall. Harry walked inside, and smiled at what he saw. It was a smaller, simpler version of the first Dumbledore's Army room. Bookshelves lined the walls with books about all sorts of defensive spells and counter-curses, the floor was soft for sitting or landing on, and there were practice dummies to shoot spells at.

Harry had sent a message to everyone in the DA to meet at 7:30pm tonight, and he arrived here a couple minutes early to ensure that the correct room for practicing would be here. After a few moments, the door opened, and the other five members walked in, ooo-ing and ah-ing at the room in which Harry had requested.

"I hope everyone brought their wands," Harry said to the group. All of them nodded, indicating they all had, indeed, brought their wands. "Good, because tonight, we start training."

"Training for what?" Ron asked.

"Do you honestly think Ron that I'm not going to help you guys learn what you need to learn? What if my plan fails? I want you guys to be prepared. So from now until the task, we'll be meeting as often as possible, I'll be helping all of you to defend yourselves."

"But you're not that much more advanced than we are, are you Harry?" Neville said. Harry opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off before he could speak.

"He has faced You-Know-Who twice and come away ok." Ron responded.

"Three times actually, if you count the diary. And then there's the basilisk," Ginny said as she shuddered at the thought of her first year.

"Plus all those dementors last year, and the dragon this year." Hermione added.

"Ok, enough of all of you bragging about my _accomplishments_, but we've got work to do. I want the five of you to pick out a dummy, and stand about 20 feet away from it," Harry instructed. The five others did as Harry asked. "Now, we'll be starting with something simple. The Disarming Charm. On the count of three, I want you to disarm your dummy. Ready? One, two, THREE!"

When Harry shouted three, a loud chorus of "_Expelliarmus!_" reverberated through the room, and only two of the dummies had been disarmed. Hermione and Ginny were the only ones who were successful on the first attempt. Harry waved his wand, and all the dummies were re-armed, and shouted, "Again!" This time, Ron and Luna succeeded as well. After the second try, Harry heard a loud sigh come from Neville.

"I'm horrible," he said as he hung his head. "I shouldn't even be here." Harry walked over to his friend and patted him on the back.

"It's ok Neville, you'll get it. You're doing everything great, but the only thing you're missing, is confidence," Harry said as he consoled his friend. "This goes for all of you too, if you don't have confidence in the spell your performing, you'll never succeed at it. You can wave your wand perfectly, enunciate the incantation perfectly, but if you lack the confidence to perform it, you'll never succeed. Now Neville, I want you to do this one by yourself. I want you to focus, not on your wand, not on the incantation, but on _you_. I want you to say to yourself, 'I will do this', and want you to repeat to yourself, until you really _believe_ it. And when that happens, disarm the dummy, ok?" Neville nodded, not looking to sure about Harry's idea, but decided to try it anyway. Harry took a step back to give Neville some room.

After about twenty seconds, Neville shouted, "_Expelliarmus!_", and in an instant, the dummy's wand went flying way from it. "I did it! Wow! Thank you Harry!" Neville said as he was engulfed by his fellow DA members. After a few moments, Harry separated himself from the group, and brought their attention back to the task at hand.

"Ok Neville, that was great, but now we have to focus on getting it right every time. So," Harry flicked his wand and the dummies were once again armed. "Again!" This time, three of them succeeded, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron. "Again!" And Luna and Neville disarmed their dummies on the second try. "We seem to get the basic idea, now the focus is consistency." Harry rearmed the dummies, and shouted "Again!" Harry repeated this step over and over until all five members successfully disarmed their dummy on the first try five times in a row. Harry then bewitched the dummies to move side-to-side. Again, he made all five of them disarm the dummies five times in a row. "Good work everyone. Tomorrow night we'll focus on stunning and counter-curses. Class dismissed."

"Harry, we never got to see you do it. Care to show us, oh great teacher?" Ginny said sarcastically.

Harry simply smiled, flicked his wand at the dummy's so that they all had two wands each and walked to where the group was standing. He pointed his wand and the dummies, and said in a casual voice, "_Expelliarmus,_", and all ten wands came flying at Harry and landed at his feet. The other members simply stood there, mouths ajar, staring at Harry. "Like I said, class dismissed," he said with a small smirk on his face.

Over the next week, the DA had improved exponentially under Harry's tutelage. They were now certainly capable of defending themselves. But Harry had not let them duel, a fact not missed by the group.

"Harry, when do we get to duel, I mean, we're getting bloody good you know," Ron said, stunning three dummies in a row.

"You're not ready Ron." Harry coldly replied.

"Says who? We're not going to be fighting dummies all the time."

"You want to duel Ron? Fine. Then we'll duel. Everyone, clear out of the circle area here. Stay there Ron." As the other backed up, Harry cast a spell which encased both he and Ron in a dome like shield. "The shield will prevent any stray spells from hitting you guys." Harry looked at Ron, who has trying to look confident. "Alright Ron, give it your best shot."

Ron started shooting off jinxes and curses at Harry. Harry walked slowly around the edge of the dome, easily deflecting everything Ron was throwing at him. Harry was flicking his wand casually, and left hand held behind his back, looking bored at Ron's attempts. Ron was getting more and more infuriated that Harry was not only not retaliating, but also looking like he was sleepwalking. Ron was trying his hardest, and kept firing off spells, each one though was deflected by Harry into the shield. The others outside the dome were amazed at the ease in which Harry was defending himself.

"Hey Ginny, why don't you join your brother? He looks like he could use the help," Harry called out. Ginny looked at the others, shrugged her shoulders, walked through the shield, and joined her brother in casting spells Harry's way. After a few moments, Harry's concentration had increased, but he still looked bored. The two Weasley's were standing side-by-side, throwing jinxes and curses that seemed no closer to hitting Harry than Ron by himself. "Ok, the rest of you, come on." Luna, Hermione, and Neville looked at each other, obviously not sure if the three of them were going to be of any help, but stepped through the shield nonetheless. They stood along side the two siblings, and began firing off their own spells.

With the addition of three more assailants, Harry finally looked interested in the "duel". However, it made seemingly no difference, as no one could hit him.

"Fight back you git!" Ron shouted at Harry. He simply smirked, and a couple seconds later, all five of their wands flew towards Harry, landing at his feet. Harry was still pointing his wand at them.

"You guys actually did really well. Most Death Eaters would have gone down with just Ron and Ginny I'm sure, but you didn't fight well as a team. Your strategy was horrible. When you have an opponent five-on-one, you have to use that to your advantage. Surround them the best you can. I'll stand in the middle, and you guys surround me, try to be equally distant from each other."

Harry moved to the center as the other picked up their wands and surrounded him. "See, now you guys have a complete advantage on me. I have to turn to see everyone. Your spells will have a better chance at getting through."

"But you were at the edge of the dome last time, how were we supposed to surround you?" Hermione asked.

"In most fights, you're not going to be enclosed in an area. So you have to spread out as best you can. In that case, your best course of action was to form a semi-circle around me and corner me into one spot, then close in on me. Now, you have me in the open. You've got me surrounded, the best-case scenario. But be wary that your companions will also be firing off spells, so watch out for stray, missed, and deflected spells. Ok everyone, wands ready, give me your best shots. One, two, THREE!"

At three, five spells came firing in towards Harry, which in one whirling motion deflected all five. Soon, spells were flying left and right as the DA tried getting to Harry. Harry was enjoying himself, having not had a fight like this in years, though he wasn't going at full speed. Finally someone struck Harry with a hex. After getting hit, Harry put up another dome around himself so that he would be protected from the flurry of other spells. Everyone stopped to look at why Harry had thrown up another shield, and began laughing when they saw just which hex he got hit with.

"Score one for Ginny! The famous Bat-Bogey strikes again!" Ginny yelled excitedly as the small bats were attacking Harry, who after just a few seconds, waved his wand and the bats disappeared. Harry removed his personal dome, and smiled at Ginny.

"See, you overwhelmed me this time. I couldn't keep up. And would have been in deep trouble had I not protected myself in time. I'd have been hit with a lot more had I not done so. Good job everyone. I think this is the perfect time to end this session, end on a high note. Class dismissed."

* * *

The night of the third task approached too quickly for Harry's tastes. Just last night, he was relaxing on the couch with Hermione talking about how much Harry had improved in all his classes. Now, he stood before the entire school and faculty, some Ministry members, the Minister himself, as well as everyone that had come from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. It was a full moon out tonight, which meant he'd be able to see pretty well. He also thought of Remus Lupin, who like Sirius, was not dead anymore. Harry didn't know where he was Lupin was, he was only sure that he was miserable in his werewolf form.

He looked up in the stands and saw the entire Weasley clan, who had come to root him on in the final task. He saw the entire DA sitting together, close to the Weasley's, seeing as two of the members were Weasley's. His eyes then came to rest on Hermione, who looked somewhat worried, but was talking to Ginny. She must have felt Harry's gaze on her, as she turned to look at Harry, and gave him a big smile.

'_Hey there, how are you feeling?' _she asked, trying not to sound worried.

'_Just peachy. Never better._'

'_Do you always deal with stress by being sarcastic?_'

'_Me? Sarcastic? Nooooo..._' he said trying to ooze sarcasm, and she chuckled at him.

'_Well, I suppose you'll be doing better than the rest of us out here, a wreck of nerves.'_

Before Harry realized it, he heard Ludo Bagman's loud voice. "So... on my whistle Mr. Potter. Three... two... one..." And Bagman blew on his whistle.

'_Good luck Harry!'_

Harry ran into the maze at full speed, casted a Lumos spell with his wand, because it was nearly pitch black in the maze, and at the fork, took a left. After a few more turns, he heard a second whistle, indicating Cedric now entered the maze. '_Ok, no more playtime, let's get through this quickly.'_ He knew he was facing the right direction, so he walked up to the hedge wall, pointed his wand at it, muttered an incantation, and a small archway formed, letting him through unscathed. He stepped through, and the path closed immediately afterward.

Passing through a couple more hedges, he encountered his first obstacle, which amused him to the fullest: a boggart. Well, it was a small cabinet which more than likely housed a boggart. '_This should be interesting.' _The cabinet opened, and what came out shocked him. It was not his normal Dementor boggart, which would have been a piece of cake. Instead, Hermione stepped out of the small cabinet, started walking towards Harry, was suddenly was hit with a flash of green light from behind, and collapsed at his feet. He screamed out instinctively, "Hermione!" His heart fell into the pit of his stomach, and he nearly broke down crying and fell to his knees. '_Hermione!' _he screamed in his head.

'_Harry! What is it?' _Hermione thought back to him, sounding very worried and panicked at the sound of Harry's scream. Hermione's voice in his head snapped him back into reality. Harry gasped for breath, trying to regain his composure. '_Harry! Say something!'_

_'Hermione... you're ok...' _Harry said in a relieved voice.

_'Of course Harry! What's wrong?'_

_'Boggart. You, dead...' _he thought to her as he pointed his wand at the boggart, and shouted_ 'Riddikulus!'_

_'No, no, no, Harry, I'm ok. I'm still here with Ginny! I'm ok, really.'_

_'I'm sorry... I never thought... a boggart of all things...'_

_'I'm ok Harry, just don't scare me like that again, ok? I love you, be careful!' _He chuckled at her response. He was so thankful that she was really ok, and even after this, could make him laugh.

'_I love you too, and I'll try to, that is be careful, not scare you_.' Harry continued on, passing through all the hedges. He raced on, and nearly ran smack into the same sphinx he gotten past last time. The sphinx looked rather amused at Harry.

"I don't believe cheating like that is allowed in this maze human boy."

"Hey, they never said I couldn't, so it's not cheating." The sphinx looked down at Harry, and seemed content with his answer.

"You are very near..."

"Yeah yeah yeah, just ask me the damn riddle will ya? In a hurry here..." Harry interrupted.

"Very well then." The sphinx rattled off the same riddle it had the last time, and Harry could hardly wait for the sphinx to finish. He thought by the time the sphinx finished, he could of gotten passed it by force, but decided that he'd rather keep it here in case the others got close.

"Spider. Now, If you'll excuse me..." he said in a rushed tone, pushing his way passed the sphinx before it had an opportunity to get up. He made one more turn, and saw the faint light of the cup at the end of the way. He jogged towards the cup, knowing he'd need his strength for what was going to come next. Soon, he was standing next to the Triwizard Cup, breathing deeply, preparing himself to face Voldemort one more time, and hoping everything would go as he hoped. He reached out his hand, grabbed onto one of the handles, and felt the familiar pull behind his navel.

Harry landed hard on the grassy hill, the force of coming out of the portkey throwing him to the ground, and he rolled down the hill several feet before stopping. He inadvertently threw the cup several more feet down the slight hill. He looked around him, and a chill ran up his spine. He had revisited this place too many times to count in his nightmares. The same fear and panic that were apart of his nightmares became a harsh reality once more. He was _here, _again. The site of perhaps his most dreadful memory, the night Voldemort returned.

It was a cold, foggy night in the graveyard that was home to Tom Riddle Sr's tomb. Harry looked around and saw the familiar sights of his nightmares: the small church past the yew tree, the old house on the hillside, and the Riddle marble headstone. He saw a cloaked, shadowy figure walking towards him in the moonlight. He knew immediately who it was, there was no mistaking the unique walk of Peter Pettigrew. He heard a cold, high-pitched voice come from Pettigrew's arms, "Bring him to the headsssstone," it hissed. The hair on Harry's arms and neck stood up from the sound of Voldemort's voice.

Pettigrew grabbed Harry by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to the headstone. It took all of Harry's courage and restraint to not take out his wand and kill both Pettigrew and Voldemort right there on the spot, but he had to make sure his plan fell into place. Pettigrew stood Harry up, slammed him against the headstone, and conjured cords to tie Harry from his neck to his ankles on the headstone.

Harry closed his eyes, for he knew what was coming. He felt his mouth being stuffed with some sort of rag to keep him from screaming. Harry still had his wand on him, but tried to let everything play out as it did. He kept his eyes tightly shut. He did not want to see again what was in front of him. Instead, he put all of his effort into taking his mind elsewhere.

He was flying on his Firebolt, winning the Quidditch Cup in his third year. He was at Number 12 Grimmauld Place with Sirius. He was meeting Hagrid for the first time. He was visiting the Weasley's during Bill and Fleur's wedding. He was holding little Teddy Lupin, his godson. He was kissing Ginny in sixth year; he was proposing to her; he was getting married to her.

He was kissing Hermione in the Great Hall. He was holding her hand and walking around the lake at midnight under the invisibility cloak. He was running his hands through her wonderfully bushy brown hair and gazing into her lovely chocolate brown eyes. He remembered her calling him "Mini-Harry" before he told her about their telepathy. He was saving Buckbeak and Sirius with her in third year. He was hugging her after she had been de-petrified in second year. He was holding her hand at his parents' graves in Godric's Hollow during their hunt for Horcruxes. She was saving his life minutes later from Nagini and Voldemort. She was caring for his wounds afterward. She was screaming at Ron when he came back. She was embracing him at Ginny's funeral. She was dancing with him at several Winter Ball's. He was holding her first born, Rose, then her second born, Hugo.

He was holding his newborn children in his arms. He was waving good-bye to them as they boarded the Hogwarts Express. He was giving away his only daughter to the man she loved at her wedding. Oh, how he missed his children; James, Albus, and Lily. He loved them more than life itself. He would do anything for them.

He taught them all how to fly, and how to play Quidditch. They were all exceptional flyers, seeing as their parents were two of the greatest players in Hogwarts history. James and Lily took after their mother and played Chaser. Albus, who was for all intent and purposes a clone of Harry, took after his father and played Seeker. Harry was very proud of his children.

James reminded him so much of Sirius, Fred and George: playful and a prankster. Albus was the most like himself: shy and reserved at times, but certainly had his moments of mischief. Lily was like Ginny: fiery temper, beautiful, a nose for trouble and the ears of a spy. Little Lily always had Harry wrapped around her finger. Even late in Harry's life, all Lily had to do was bat her eyes at her father and she could get whatever she wanted.

Harry choked back the tears thinking about them. He had never allowed himself to think of them before, because he knew what would happen if he did. He knew he would cry, he knew he would break down. He wept for his children and his grandchildren, sobbing hard. He had to sacrifice his own children for this. '_Was it worth it? Why did I do this? I love Hermione. I love her so much. But what about my children, the grandchildren?_'

Soon, Harry was thrust back into the unfortunate reality he was in, when he felt his arm being cut open by Pettigrew. He tried to push the pain out, tried to ignore the burning sensation he hadn't felt come from his scar in years. As good as he was at Occulmency, he could feel his mortal enemy returning to life. He forced his ears not to work; he did not want to hear the sound of Voldemort whispering in his ear about his heritage. He did not want to hear the sound of the Death Eaters arriving at the graveyard. He pushed it all away; he did not want to live this horror again.

He felt someone near him, and he knew exactly whom it was. Voldemort was ranting on, and felt a bony finger press on his scar, and pain he had not felt in 50 years came back. Even his strongest mind shields could not prevent all of the pain from entering into him. But he would not give Voldemort the pleasure of screaming in pain, instead only gritting his teeth and growling. He felt Voldemort pull away from him, and the pain went away, but his scar still smoldered with discomfort.

He heard the muffled sound of Voldemort rambling, and Harry was growing tired of being secured to the headstone. He decided to take action finally. He opened his eyes and saw the Death Eaters surrounding Voldemort, and he used his magical ability to sense for Nagini, which thankfully for Harry has there, hiding under a blanket by the large cauldron. For the first time since coming to the graveyard, Harry smiled. The one part of his plan which he couldn't know for sure would happen, did. The snake was here.

Harry grew tired of hearing Voldemort's voice. He spit out the rag in his mouth, and spoke up: "Riddle!" he shouted. Voldemort stopped mid sentence, his snake-like eyes widening, and all of the Death Eaters turned to face him. "Yeah, you heard me!" he shouted again.

"You dare use my filthy Muggle name, boy?" Voldemort hissed. "We'll see how much respect you have for me when we duel Harry. Cut him down, Wormtail." Pettigrew untied Harry from the headstone, and he immediately crumpled to the ground. Voldemort walked towards Harry and pointed his wand at him. "Get up! _Crucio!_"And Harry rolled around on the ground, writhing in pain. After what felt like hours, the pain was gone. "Get _up_ I said!"

Harry slowly pushed himself up onto his knees, then rose slowly to his feet. Still hunched over at the waist, gasping for breath, he looked up at Voldemort. "Why... would I want... to duel... someone... who can't even... kill me...as a baby..." he said with a small, cocky smirk on his face.

Voldemort's face scrunched up in anger. His head, arms and legs began to shake with rage. "Luck! Pure luck! Ancient magic!" he screamed. "You die _tonight_ Harry Potter!"

"Do I? Forgive me if I don't believe you Riddle," he said with as much cockiness and machismo as he could muster, still hunched over and gasping for breath. The small smirk on his face becoming larger as he saw and felt the anger in Voldemort building. He stood up straight, and started walking towards the Dark Lord. "Fine, I'll tell you what. One free Killing Curse, on the house," he said, still smirking, holding his arms spread out. "If I die, fine. Dumbledore and his Army will finish you off. I, unlike you Tom, am not afraid of death. So give me your best shot."

Voldemort was violently shaking with anger, and almost involuntarily yelled, "_Avada Kedavra!_" Harry winced as he saw the jet of green light racing towards him. Closing his eyes and bracing himself for it's impact, he thought of only one thing, the one thing that if he were to die, he wanted to be his last thought.

The Great Hall. Hermione. The Kiss.

And everything disappeared, again.


	10. Chapter 10

Harry felt like he was awaking from a deep slumber, groggy and unaware of where he was. He felt himself lying face down on something. It wasn't warm or cold, just there. He wiggled his fingers and his toes, and felt elated he could move them, and a small smile appeared on his face. He slowly opened one eye, squinting at the amount of light penetrating it. He opened his other eye, and tried to focus on what was around him. Unfortunately for Harry, there was nothing to focus on. There was only a light fog surrounding him in the bright, white area. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he rolled over onto his back, and realized he was stark naked, but found himself not caring. He looked upwards, and saw thick, white, puffy clouds above him. He rubbed his eyes, still feeling groggy, and realized he wasn't wearing his glasses, much like last time. A voice then came from somewhere near him, past his head.

"So, are you just going to lay there for all eternity or what?" a vaguely familiar, male voice said. Harry sat up quickly, and looked side-to-side, and saw no one there. He felt someone walking up behind him, and someone put a white, fluffy bathrobe over his shoulders.

"Honey, here's something to cover you up, I'm sure you don't want us seeing you, well, all of you anyway," said another familiar voice, this time female, and she was obviously holding back a giggle. Without getting up or turning around, Harry threw on the robe that he was handed. He tried covering up everything, and slowly stood up. As he turned around, he saw two people standing there he hadn't seen in a long time, but this was the first time he had ever seen them in the flesh, so to speak.

"Mom! Dad!" Harry shouted in glee as he ran over to his parents and threw his arms around both of them. James and Lily Potter embraced their son in a fierce hug, the first they had ever shared as a family. Harry had dreamed of this moment all his life, and only now, in near death, was he able to do so, and it nearly overwhelmed him.

"Hello Harry, it's so good to see you!" James said to his only child. The proud parents were shedding tears as they embraced Harry. Finally, they separated, and were all smiling.

"So, I figured someone was going to be here, considering Dumbledore is still alive, but, it's quite a wonderful surprise to see you here." Harry said with joy springing in his voice.

"We insisted that it was us that were here for you Harry, to explain everything," Lily said.

"Well, that would be nice, to know exactly what is going on here. I mean, it's not everyday you have to sacrifice everything you know and love and go back in time to redo everything," Harry said sarcastically.

"Harry, shall we sit down, and your mother and I will explain," James said as he pointed to a bench that had appeared a few feet away. The Potters walked over to the bench and sat down as a family. Harry sat between his mother and father. Lily spoke first.

"Harry, why don't you tell us what you know, and we'll try and fill in as much as we can."

"Ok, sounds good. Um… I remember sitting in my office, well, the Headmasters office, and then out of nowhere, I heard Albus speaking to me. That wasn't the weird part, seeing as I spoke to his portrait all the time. But he was in my room, sitting against my dresser. Well, you can imagine my shock in seeing him there. I nearly hexed him on the spot, and who knows if I would have hit him or not. He told me about the timeline getting screwed up, and something about a rouge Time Master, something like that."

"Yes Harry," his father began. "One of the Time Masters thought he knew better than the Creator. So, somewhere along the line, he did something to prevent you and Hermione from being with each other. You see, you two were destined to change history together. There are times when a soul is earmarked for greatness. When mankind needs to be pushed to the next level, or prevent a catastrophe, that's when those special souls are put on the Earth. You were supposed to stop Voldemort from taking over. And you did that. But you were also supposed to help Hermione become who she was destined to be. And that _didn't_ happen."

"But she was the smartest and brightest witch of our age. She advanced the rights of house elves, trolls, giants, and centaurs. She improved potions and the overall health of everyone in the wizarding world. She was a huge influence. How is that _not_ being who she was destined to be?"

"Because Harry," Lily said, "She was supposed to do more. She was destined to save mankind from a horrible disease, though no one knew about it other than the Creator. That was her destiny. And it was your soul-bond with her that was supposed to bring that out in her. Yes, she was brilliant, but she only scratched the surface of her ability. You were also supposed to keep her grounded, not allowing her work to become too important. But, that of course didn't happen."

"Horrible disease? What do you mean? There was no horrible disease…"

James interrupted him, "But there was Harry. It was spreading quickly. Within a matter of years, the entire world population would have been wiped out by it. Hermione was supposed to create the cure for it, but because she wasn't able to tap into her vast amount of knowledge and power, she didn't. When she died, it was obvious someone tampered with the timeline. Considering she came to us as Hermione Weasley, not Hermione Potter, was the first clue. That's when it was determined you needed to go back and change things."

Harry sat on the bench, allowing this wave of information to wash over him, trying to absorb the enormity of it all. He was destined to be with Hermione. They together were supposed to save the entire world: He from the clutches of Voldemort, she from a terrible disease. Harry sighed, thinking his entire past life was a mistake. But how could the love he felt for his children be a mistake? As if she sensed the dread in Harry, his mother put her arm around her son and hugged him. "Harry, we'd like to show you something, something I think will help cheer you up. C'mon, let's go over there." The Potters got up from the bench and started walking. Harry couldn't see anything that they were walking towards; all he saw was white light and fog.

Soon, he saw something glittering in the direction where they were walking. He couldn't quite make out what it was. His mom and dad were simply walking with him, both of them with their arms around him, smiling broadly. Within moments, they were standing before a large wall with four shelves on it. Each shelf had four glowing orbs on them, each one the size of a large pumpkin. The orbs were spherical, mostly clear, but had a slight tinge of blue in them. They were filled with the same smoky, fog like substance that surrounded them, but it also looked like little flashes of lightning were emanating from the clouds in the orbs. To Harry, they looked like storm clouds, but white instead of the dark rain clouds. He stared at the sixteen orbs, and then looked at his parents.

"What are they?" Harry asked in amazement.

"Those would be the souls of your children, Hermione's children, and your grandchildren Harry," James answered, with a large grin on his face. Harry's eyes lit up at his fathers answer. He felt so happy that the children and grandchildren he had loved in his last life were going to be ok.

Harry continued to look at the orbs in wonder and walked over to them, but then he started to count the number of orbs. He concentrated, thinking of his family in his previous life, and then fear and panic struck him. His heart began beating very quickly, and turned around to face his parents.

"Why are there only sixteen?" Harry said in a panic. "There should be more. I mean, Teddy, Victorie, George's kids, Charlie's kids…"

His mother held up her hand to stop her rambling son. "Harry, don't worry about them. These are the only souls that will be affected by the change in the timeline. These are only yours and Hermione's children and grandchildren."

Harry turned back around to face the orbs, counting them once more. But the feeling of fear and panic was still within him. "But if that's true, there should be seventeen. Where's the other one? Why are there only sixteen?" Harry's voice trembled with fear, turning back to face his parents. They simply smiled at their son, and nodded at something beyond him.

Harry heard footsteps coming from behind him, but didn't turn around to see whom it was. He was too busy staring at his parents, worrying about the one soul that was missing from the shelves. A voice then came from behind him that he would recognize anywhere.

"Hi Dad…" said the voice from behind him. Harry spun around so quickly he nearly fell over. His heart was still racing, but for a different reason now. He saw the person that had spoken to him and his eyes began to fill with tears, and his face lit up with joy.

"Lily!" Harry gasped. He ran over to her, threw his arms around his only daughter's waist, and hugged her fiercely. She wrapped her arms around her father's neck, and hugged him back just as much. After a few moments, father and daughter stepped out of the tight hug, but still had their arms around each other. "I never thought I'd see you again Lils. I'm so happy your ok."

"And I'm happy to see you too Dad," she said smiling at her father.

Harry observed his daughter, and made an interesting discovery. "Why do you look so young? I thought you were 42!"

"Oh yeah, I'm going to stay like that forever when you're fourteen, and grandma and grandpa are like twenty something. Yeah, I'm going to look twice as old as my grandparents. I don't think so Dad. So I chose to be your age. Then at least I don't feel _too_ weird." Lily smiled at her father. Harry smiled back at her, but soon cocked his eyebrow at her and narrowed his eyes.

"And why young lady are you not in an orb right now?" he said, half smiling at her.

"Well, that's quite a story itself," she said, stepping away from Harry, and they walked over to James and Lily, who were watching their son and granddaughter. "When you were taken back Dad, the Creator brought all of us to this place, and gave us an option. We were told that we could do one of two things. Either be reborn, with no memory of our previous life, as your children or grandchildren again. Or, stay behind as we were and be spirits, and watch over you and Aunt Hermione."

"And why didn't _you_ be reborn?" Harry said, crossing his arms.

"Because _someone_ had to keep you and Aunt Hermione on the right path," she said, smirking at her father. "When we were given the option, all of us were there. James, Al, Rose, Hugo and I told our children that under no circumstances were they _not_ to be reborn. A few of them protested, but us parents gave them the famous Weasley glare and got them to do what we told them to do. So, that left the five of us. Since Aunt Hermione wasn't going to be allowed to remember, I told Rosie and Hugo to be reborn, because it wouldn't be fair for them to stay as is, and only have their uncle and not have their own mother remember them. They finally agreed, and it was down to the three of us."

"And…?"

"You know me Dad, I get what I want," she smiled while batting her eyelashes, just like her mother.

"James and Al didn't protest?"

"Of course they did. They wouldn't be older brothers if they didn't you know. James suggested that it should be all of us either way, either we all get reborn, or all stay. But I reminded them that you'd probably be upset if all of us stayed…"

"You were quite correct in your assumption…" Harry interrupted, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Anyway, I knew someone needed to stay behind, to tell you what happened and that everything would be ok. I forced them to go back. I'm daddy's little girl remember?" Lily batted her eyes at her father once more. But then, her voice dropped, and the sadness was evident in her voice. She sighed, and continued. "I didn't want to lose all the wonderful memories of you and mum. As much as I love Aunt Hermione, I didn't want to lose that. I also didn't want you to forget about us, or mum. I know you weren't supposed to be with her, but I just couldn't do it."

Harry reached out and brought his daughter into a tight hug. He tried to hug her sadness away, to take away her pain. Tears formed in his eyes, and he began weeping. "I'm so sorry Lils. I'm sorry to do this to you. I'm so, so sorry."

Lily was crying as well, hugging her father back, and trying to comfort him as well. "It's ok Dad. I know you had to do it. You didn't have a choice."

"But I _did_ have a choice," he said, crying into Lily's shoulder.

"No Dad, you didn't," she said, stepping out of the tight embrace, wiping away her tears with her arm. She grabbed her father's arms, and rubbed his upper arms lovingly. "You did what any Potter or Weasley would have done, and that is saving the world, no matter what the cost. You had to give us up, for the good of mankind. No one should have to deal with that burden. But of anyone in the entire universe, you can do it. I know you can. And I'll always be here Dad, to help you. I'll come visit you in your dreams."

"You can do that?" Harry asked in disbelief, grabbing her hands, holding them in his.

"Yes, it was part of the deal I struck with the Creator. If I stayed behind, I wanted to be able to visit you, and talk to you. So I'm the one who will help you stay on the correct path. Mind I can't visit _every_ night. But I'll always be here for you and Aunt Hermione. Though it will be very weird seeing you two together, married, having kids, and not you and mum," she said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

"You know I always loved your mother," he said, his voice trembling.

"I know Dad," she said, taking her hands out of her fathers, and straightened his robe collar. "But you have a job to do. And it's just about time for you to go back and finish what you started. Promise me one thing though."

"What Lils?" Harry asked, looking into her eyes, which reminded him so much of Ginny's.

Lily looked up at her father, and gave him the biggest puppy dog look she could; knowing how weak willed he was when she truly wanted something. "I know you won't want to name your boys James and Albus again, because it will remind you too much of my brothers. But please, do name your daughter Lily, if not after grandma, then me. Perhaps, Lily Ginevra Potter? Name her after mum, grandma, and me. I'm sure Aunt Hermione won't mind, will she?"

A smile split Harry's face in two. He could never resist those eyes. He could be frozen in ice and still be melted by them. "For you, Lily Nymphadora Potter, I will. I'll name my eldest daughter Lily. And you're right about your brothers. I can't imagine yelling at my sons James or Albus, and not seeing those two boys. Hermione and I will come up with something different. Maybe something like Sirius Remus Potter, get all the Marauders in there. We'll see. But I will keep my promise Lils."

"That sounds great Dad. You better get going," she said as she gave her father a peck on the cheek.

"Ok," Harry sighed and turned to his parents. "I love you Mom, Dad. Take care of my daughter, will you?" James and Lily nodded at their son. Harry turned back to his only daughter. "And you, take care of your grandparents." Little Lily smiled at her father and nodded. "I love you Lily Nymphadora."

"I love you too Dad." The three generations of Potters embraced in a loving, tender hug. Harry then stepped away, and walked into the mist, closed his eyes, and felt himself being pulled back into the cold, harsh world, where his greatest enemy awaited him.

* * *

Harry felt himself falling, from how high and for how long he didn't know. He was falling down a long, dark, seeming bottomless pit. There was no sense of impending doom, no ground screaming towards him. Faster and faster he fell, until he felt himself jerk awake, lying on the cold, wet ground of the graveyard. His body was contorted into an uncomfortable position. He was lying on his left side, the side of his face buried in mud, his right arm thrown above his head. His legs were curled up and his knees were near his chin. His left arm, aching from the cut given to him by Pettigrew, was under the weight of his legs and also buried in the mud.

He opened his eyes, and saw all of the Death Eaters surrounding a fallen body, no doubt Voldemort. He heard them whispering in a panicked state, but no one seemed to be paying attention to Harry. Deciding he needed to take advantage of the situation he found himself in, being completely ignored, he uncurled himself and rolled onto his back. He felt himself rolling on his wand, and quickly picked it up. He struggled to his knees, and looked around the graveyard. He saw about 30 Death Eaters, and he wondered to himself whether or not he could take them all on in his current condition, but that was not his top concern. He saw the blanket sit sitting there, and he saw a slight movement under it, meaning Nagini was still there. Gasping for breathing, and trying to shut out the pain, Harry rose to his feet, and stood up straight as best he could. Holding out his wand, Harry gathered up all the courage he could muster.

This was the time. This was the place. It must end now. "Riddle!" Harry shouted. All the Death Easter head's whipped around. All of their faces had the same look: Shock and horror. They had all witnessed their master shoot a Killing Curse at the Boy-Who-Lived, and connect with it. And now, he was standing, shouting for their master. He was now the Boy-Who-Lived-_Twice_. Could this boy be immortal, they all wondered? "Is that the best you've got Tom?" Harry shouted again.

Voldemort was assisted to his feet by two Death Eaters. He looked like the one who had taken the worst of the Killing Curse, not Harry. His eyes at first looked weary, but as soon as he saw Harry standing there, rage once again pulsed through his body. "No! No! Impossible! You should be _dead_ Harry Potter!" Voldemort screamed. He looked around to his Death Eaters, and commanded, "Kill him!"

A plethora of green jets soon followed the shouts of _"Avada Kedavra!"_ The blasts came closer and closer, and at the last second, Harry swooshed his wand in all directions, and every Killing Curse rebounded, shooting back in the same direction from which they came. Death Eaters scattered, trying to avoid the green jets that came flying at them. Several of them were not fast enough, or simply ran into each other, and were hit by the rebounding curses. Soon, more shouts, more green jets, more rebounding curses, more dead Death Eaters. After this second round, just over a dozen of them remained standing. Most of the survivors tried to apparate away, Harry could tell, because they turned where they stood. But a big grin came over his face.

"Trying to run away cowards? Good luck, there's an Anti-Apparation dome around us, and it's a good half-mile around. So you won't be going anywhere." Harry said, confidence oozing from his voice. "Now Tom, that wasn't very nice having your cronies try to kill me. I thought this was just between me and you," he said as he paced back and forth, staring directly at Voldemort. One of the Death Eaters stepped forward, in front of Voldemort.

"You will show respect to the Dark Lord you insufferable little brat!" Lucius Malfoy said, his voice seething in anger.

"Oh, hello Mr. Malfoy. I was wondering if you were one of the, shall we say, unfortunate ones," Harry said with an amount cockiness usually spoken _by_ a Malfoy, not spoken _to_ one. "So, are you stepping up and showing something a Malfoy hasn't shown in generations, a backbone?" Harry was smirking at that last comment, rather wishing Draco were here to hear it as well.

Malfoy's eyes went wide at hearing the remark made at him. He pointed his wand at Harry, and shouted _"Avada Kedavra!"_ Harry chuckled, let the curse come within a few feet of him, flicked his wand at the jet green blast, and sent it back at Malfoy at more than twice the speed it had come in, and before he could react, Lucius Malfoy was throw backward by the impact of the blast and into Voldemort, dead before he reached the Dark Lord. Voldemort stumbled backwards, and let Malfoy's body fall with a thud onto the soggy grass of the graveyard.

Harry looked around at the remaining Death Eaters. "Anyone else want to try? Anyone? No? Aw... too bad. Come on... I was just getting started..." Harry said, pouting his lips, stomping his feet on the ground, which caused mud to go flying all around him, trying to act like a two-year-old. After a few moments, Harry stopped his child act, and swooshed his wand once more, shooting stunning spells at all the remaining Death Eaters. None of them were fast enough to avoid the red jets, and were immediately knocked unconscious, leaving only three people standing: Voldemort, Harry, and Peter Pettigrew, who was hiding behind a large gravestone.

Voldemort looked around at his decimated forces, and let out a terrible scream. Anger coursed through his veins. Breathing heavily, Voldemort turned his attention to the 14-year-old boy standing before him. "Well well, young Harry Potter. It appears we have something in common. Both of us cannot die. How very cleaver of you; what was it you said? 'I am not afraid of death'? You cannot fear something that cannot happen to you, can you Harry?"

Harry and Voldemort began to circle one another, in an apparent precursor to a duel. But Harry knew better. He knew fully that a duel between himself and Voldemort was impossible. With what happened the last time he was in this graveyard, Priori Incantatem, he knew this would end without a proper duel. "No Tom, I can die, just like you. I just know all the little details," Harry said, smiling knowingly.

Voldemort laughed at Harry. "I cannot die Harry. There are things in this world you just don't understand."

"You're right. There are plenty of things I don't understand. But what you don't realize is that I know more than you, and I know a lot more than you think I know. Take this, for example." Harry pointed his wand at the blanket, and shouted _"Sectumsempra!"_ The curse hit the blanket, and the snake that was underneath it was thrown high into the air, its head quite clearly removed as it flew through the air, blood glittering in the bright moonlight. A gasp left Voldemort, and his eyes grew as wide as they could. For perhaps the first time in his life, Voldemort felt scared. "You see, I know more than you think Tom."

Voldemort looked back and forth between Harry and the severed head of his snake, Nagini. "Why, why did you kill my snake Harry?" he said, his voice filled with fear, anticipation, and anger.

"It's quite simple really. You underestimate me, you underestimate Dumbledore. We know of the Horcruxes. We know of their locations. We found them. We destroyed them. You witnessed your last two Horcruxes be destroyed, right in front of your eyes."

At the last statement, Voldemort titled his head, knowing what his Horcruxes were, and knew that there was only one here. Or he thought he knew. Harry continued, "You look confused, let me explain. That night, when you killed my parents, you inadvertently made me one of you Horcruxes. Which, thanks to you, I am no longer one because you killed it yourself. And as for the others, well, obviously, I knew about your snake. There's also the ring, which we found at the Gaunt estate. Your diary, which I destroyed my second year. Slytherin's Locket, which was actually found at the Black estate. Originally, one Regulus Arcturus Black took it from your little cave. Then there's Hufflepuff's cup, which you were actually smart to put it in Gringott's. But the Lestrange vault Tom? Come now, with both of them in Azkaban, you should have known it would be easy to seize a stolen item like that. Ravenclaw's lost diadem, which I admit must have been a chore to get, seeing as the Grey Lady hardly talks to anyone, even the Ravenclaw's."

Voldemort looked totally stunned at hearing this boy rattle off every single one of his prized treasures and where they were. "How did you know about them?" he yelled at Harry. "Only I knew of them!"

"And there you go again, underestimating both Dumbledore and myself. But why would I want to reveal all my secrets Tom?" Harry said, breathing heavily, feeling very tired all of a sudden. He glanced down at his left arm, and saw it was covered in blood. He was losing too much, and it was starting to cause him to lose focus. "Tell you what, let's end this, I want to go back to my nice warm bed and have a good nights rest. I'm ready to have you out of my life once and for all," he sighed, placing his hands on his hips, gasping for breath.

"I am _not_ some thorn in your side boy! I am Lord Voldemort! The Dark Lord! Prepare to die!" he screeched. _"Avada Kedavra!"_

Harry let the curse fly at him, keeping his wand at his side, gathering all the magical strength he could muster. Closer and closer the curse came. He placed his right foot back behind him, trying to brace himself. Closer and closer the curse came. He closed his eyes. Closer and closer the curse came. He could feel the curse coming; he could feel the magic racing towards him. Closer and closer the curse came. He put up his bloodied left hand, his palm facing Voldemort. Closer and closer the curse came. Inches from his hand, the curse stopped in midair. Still breathing heavily, Harry held the curse suspended there.

Voldemort stood in stunned silence, witnessing his Killing Curse floating in front of Harry. Harry looked beyond the light of the curse, directly into Voldemort's eyes. "For all the pain and suffering you have caused, you deserve a fate worse than death. It will be a small consolation that you will no longer plague the Earth. Tom Marvolo Riddle, may you _not_, rest in peace," Harry said with anger and vengeance in his voice. With all his might, he shoved the Killing Curse back at Voldemort. His snake-like eyes grew wide in fear. He put up his arms, in a vain attempt at shielding himself. He gasped his final breath as the curse hit him square in the chest, sending him flying backwards, landing with quite splash in a mud puddle. Harry stumbled over to the body, which was sprawled out, spread eagle. He looked into the eyes of his mortal enemy.

Lord Voldemort was dead.


End file.
